Of Another D'Arc
by KSLCross
Summary: Jaune's a normal guy, if his older brother wasn't a professor hell bent on making his life hell, if he didn't stumble across grim-reaper wannabe red riding hoods that could also fire sniper rounds, if he didn't find himself forcibly pressed into Beacon Academy by said brother, and if he wasn't raised in the countryside away from the four great countries. Will he survive it all?
1. The Beacon Guides the Way

AN: Sooooo… for anybody that's read any of my previous works or dabbles, I apologize that I've been busy with summer sessions. There was a problem with the college registrar and I got accidently dismissed, but still had to take both summer sessions to be readmitted, which is bull, but something I couldn't change. Stupid UC Davis…

Anyways I came across the RWBY series by accident and it is AWESOME FUN. Now that is a webtoon I can get behind. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. Now. Vamoose. Although I keep feeling that Jaune should be a bit cooler as well, you know, and I guess that's just cuz of my personal preference of having a powerful character as a focus. Though I have no issues with weak characters, I like my protagonists strong and my antagonists stronger, you know? So that the protagonist constantly grows? I'm just too impatient for weak starts.

So I decided, what the hell, and to write a fanfic for my self-satisfaction and glorification. Hope that you enjoy! -WARNING- AU, not quite canon but does follow it a bit, although I might find ways to incorporate the new episodes that come in. I also changed Jaune Arc into Jaune D'Arc, cuz I think it's cooler :P

Begin!

Oh Dust, don't get sick, don't get sick. Why, oh, _why_ do I have MOTION SICKNESS?!

Really now, this is just, URP… so unfair…

Ok… maybe if I just look at the nice scenery below… DUST we are HIGH UP! Hold it in Jaune! Hold it… oh who am I kidding here?!

Dashing past a group of fellow students to be I dashed into a bathroom unit before upchucking all today's lunch into the metal toilette.

Great.

I'll be lucky to not be _known_ as 'Vomit Boy' after this.

Spitting the taste of bile and half-digested sandwich out of my mouth I walked out of the bathroom unit as the Beacon Academy's Dust-TWing landed, letting all the student hopefuls out.

I sighed with my head in my hands.

I'm the last one off… oh what absolute _fun_…

If Ozpin thinks that I'm gonna ride on one of these again for him, he's got another think coming. I don't care if he's my only family at the moment, that man is pure evil. With a 'z' at the end for good measure.

The Dustplane left as soon as I got off and I checked myself to make sure I didn't forget anything, seeing as how all luggage would be taken care of by Beacon.

Shield? Check.

Great-great-great-gramp's old sword? Check.

Throwing knives in boots? Check.

Armor? Breastplate, shoulder-plates, shin-guards, gauntlets? Check.

Blade-guns as hunting knives? Check.

Choker? Check.

Utility belt? Ah wait, forgot Ozpin took that away from me for 'the sake of research' that asshat…

And lastly…

I partly drew out my second sword. Through the sheath made one think of a rapier, rather than that it was just simply a metal frame for mecha-shift type weapons.

So, well, check.

It was reflexive to look up when I heard a mecha-shift weapon deploy. I mean, this is Beacon, but I'm pretty sure that a weapon complex as that doesn't just get drawn for no reason.

However, judging from the little black haired girl who looked like a badass version of the little red riding hood, that was probably _exactly_ the case this time. But rather than her looking badass, I'd probably say it was more like the scythe that made her look like a badass. Getting into Beacon as a scythe user? Now THAT is interesting.

Her aura levels aren't anything to scoff at either.

Now I didn't stalk her or anything. She was quite a ways away and pretty much right in the middle of my line of sight. So me seeing what seemed to be her beautiful, blonde, non-biologically related sister run off with a surprisingly average looking group of friends, and seeing her get chewed out by a gorgeous white-haired heiress girl over a bunch of mid-quality Dust that was obviously leaking from a poorly manufactured container, causing a pretty amazing explosion of fire, ice, _and_ lighting was a complete coincidence. It really was.

Then some really pale black haired semi-gothic-lolita girl with a surprisingly cute bow on her head schooled the gorgeous white haired one before walking away reading.

…I need to make friends with the little red riding hood. If this is _her_ first day, I think a lot of fun might come around.

Or a helluva lot of trouble, but hey, not like I really wanted to be at Beacon that badly anyways.

As she collapsed onto the ground tiredly, and somewhat unnecessarily, it seemed like she could use a hand.

"Hey… I'm Jaune."

So I offered her a hand.

"Ruby." she smiled back, tiredly, as I pulled her up. She was pretty cute, even though she was obviously, like, two years younger than me. But she seemed cool enough.

This might be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Then she snickered.

"Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

Or maybe not.

"...You really aren't a people person, are you?" I laughed, slightly hurt, "but yeah."

"Ah, sorry." she chuckled nervously, scratching her head.

"It's alright. I'm terrible at conversations myself. I'm more of a watch people have conversations guy, even though I talk a lot."

"No way? Me too!"

Huh, peppy. I like that.

"Well, I'm terrible with directions, but I do have a school map with me as well as the dorm we're supposed to head to marked. Think we could maybe help each other out?"

She giggled.

"Sure, sounds good to me!"

Cheerfully snatching the map out of my hands, and after looking at it while humming an unfamiliar tune, she started walking to the east side of the Academy.

"So was the ride here fun for you?" Ruby teased, laughing.

"Oh, ha ha, very funny. I'll have you know that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on. 10% of the world's population are unable to ride large Dust-vehicles without becoming nauseated and 10% of those people have extreme reactions to motion sickness."

"...Wait, so then you're just in the 1%."

"...I really need to think this argument through more."

"Ha ha, you're so silly."

"But really, to remember me as the guy who had to vomit, not the guy that was motion-sick is a little cruel."

"Look, I'm sorry." She said gently, still smiling, "Vomit-boy was just the first thing that came to mind."

"...And now a nickname. I'm just not doing well today."

"I said I was sorry, if that helps."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say… Crater-face."

"Hey! That explosion was an accident!"

"And not entirely your fault, from what I could see. That Schnee heiress girl needs to really get some better containers for her Dust. Nobody in their right mind uses cork as a Dust bottle stopper. She'll have lost 10% of it before she even opens the bottles."

"You really like saying 10%, don't you?"

"Hey, is this what you say to the guy that's trying to cheer you up? I'd hate to see what your boyfriend must go through."

"Wh-what nonsense are you saying?!"

"Hmm? So you're single then? That's surprising."

"Y-you're…"

I snickered, letting her know I was just teasing her, and laughed more inwardly as I saw her flush and pout.

"Well, anyways, my full name is Jaune D'Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. I'd say that ladies love it, but I haven't really been part of society long enough to know."

"Hmm? What does that mean?"

"Erm… well I'm not from Vale. My village was beyond the borders in the mountains where we were mostly safe. But you're like, maybe, the fifth person I've spoken to that wasn't a part of the village."

"Whoa, that's actually pretty cool."

"Really? Three out of the other four called me a hick."

"I'm sorry."

"Pft, don't be. Like I cared what they said in the first place."

That and the fact that I beat the crap out of them, but yeah.

"Sooooo, you're a sword user?"

"Hmm?" I turned to her again as her eyes gleamed, looking at my antique of a blade's hilt. "Yeah, something like that. I can use just about anything as long as it has a blade. I'm not bad with a bow either, but with Dust-powered guns nowadays bows are kind of obsolete. I left mine back at the village. I've been trying to get used to these, but my aim isn't the best."

I pulled out the two hunting knives crossed in an x-shape across the back of my belt, two orange Dust-crystal blades drawn with yellow crystal veins like data streaks running through it. Snapping it forward they flicked forward like fangs, revealing that the large hilt was actually a powerful pistol.

"That was so cool! What rounds do you use? Are these blades actually for combat? How did you get such cool patterns in it? Is there some sort of secret? Can you cast aura spells with them? What element is orange?"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down Ruby. Goodness. That's a mile a minute talking if I've ever seen it."

"Sorry… it's just that weapons are, like, so cool! They're extensions of one's souls. Like auras. But… you know, better."

"Gee, so I'm chopped liver now?"

"No! No, it's just, well, here's mine." She grinned brightly before flicking and spinning out her mecha-shift scythe before impaling the tip of the blade into the ground.

I am not paying for that property damage there.

"Ah, a scythe, huh? Neato."

"It's also a customizable, high impact velocity sniper rifle."

"You can aim with that?"

"Yup!"

Huh, you learn new things every day.

"Well, other than that and some throwing knives in my boots just as a precaution, I have my old great, great, great grandfather's sword," I said, drawing it out, getting an appreciative 'Ooooh' in response, "Which he got from his grandmother, so it's like an antique family heirloom, but it's still in perfect condition, so I use it too. That and this shield. It's retractable, but weighs still the same, but it's also the sheathe for the sword. They're a matching pair from the War. My family probably lost some prestige or something to have had to live in the countryside. It's pretty light to begin with though, so its not too bad. I haven't ever seen a better one yet. I got them from my annoying older brother."

I sighed as I put the two away.

"He's kind of the reason I was forced to come to Beacon."

"Huh? I can understand the annoying sibling bit, but didn't you wanna come here? This is Beacon Academy! Where the best Huntsmen and Huntresses come from! This is THE greatest school in the world!"

"To be honest, I want to kill monsters too… but that's only because they destroyed my home. If I had a choice, I'd still be at the village doing what I used to always do."

"Oh… sorry…"

"Nah, don't let that get you down. I probably shouldn't have brought it up."

"Still…"

"Oh look. The dorm." I said changing the subject.

"Ah, yeah, cool."

Ruby still seemed a bit distracted.

Great.

Now I feel guilty. This is really not my day.

"So, where did you get that? It doesn't look like any of the mecha-shift weapons I'm familiar with." I said, as we walked into the dorm, which as it turned out wasn't to be our final destination, but warned us that we would need to sleep in sleeping bags.

I don't have a sleeping bag.

"I made it! All students at Signal forge their own weapons."

"That's really cool. Well I'll have to see if they'll lend me a sleeping bag, or I'll have to rough it out on the ground. Later."

"Wait… I… erm… why did you help me back there, in the courtyard?"

"Eh, you looked like you needed the hand. That and 'strangers are only friends that you haven't met yet.'... That was my mom's favorite saying… Well I think I see somebody you know waving at you. I'll talk with you later."

I waved as I walked away into the crowd as I caught the words: "Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!"

Man that outfit really works well for that girl. Best not to be caught staring though.

"Hey, dude. I just got here, why is everybody standing up?" I asked a boy to my left.

He was about my height, just a tad shorter, with a ponytail to his midback, his black hair had a small streak of a fuchsia, or maybe magenta hue to it, the same color as his eyes, oddly enough.

"Ah, the professors are going to give an announcement about the academy or the like before they let us alone to mingle. I'm Ren. Lie Ren."

"You're from the East then? Vale's pretty far out to the West. Huh."

"Well, my ethnicity, sure. But I was born and raised in Vale."

"With me!"

Well, there's an incredibly perky girl.

Very cute, but probably taken already, she had short orange hair in a cute pixie like haircut and a mix match of clothing and armor, she wore a pink skirt and a white shirt with a heart cut out at the top of her fairly above average bust.

"I'm Nora with an N! Nora Valkyrie, nice to meetcha!~"

"Jaune D'Arc. Pleasure. Childhood friends?"

"Yeah." Ren said with a bit of a sigh.

My friend, you have it rough.

We started talking about ourselves a bit, especially once we found out that Ren and I shared a common weapon, much to Nora's squeakings of joy. Something about horoscopes and fate that I didn't really know much about.

But then I heard Ruby's voice in the crowd.

"YOU!"

"OH GOD IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN!"

I turned to look with a raised brow.

"Friend of yours?" Ren asked with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, I met her today. She keeps interesting company, I can tell you that. I love watching trouble magnets. It's a lot of fun."

"I wish I could say I felt the same. My life would be a lot easier."

"Is there something wrong with a friend in your life Ren? Tell me, Nora will make it allllllll better!"

"..." we both deadpanned at her.

But turning back to the fun at hand...

"You're lucky we weren't blown of the side of the cliff!" the white haired one verbally bashed.

"Oh my god, you really exploded." the blonde one stared at the smaller and younger girl in her arms. Oh for Dust's sake Ruby, you're not a cartoon character, what are you doing?

"It was an accident." she told her sister, before turning to the heiress, "It was an accident! I didn't mean to!"

Only to be interrupted by a pamphlet waved in front of her face.

"What's this?" Ruby asked.

As the white haired girl, who later was addressed by Ruby as Weiss, went on a short company propaganda spiel, I turned to Ren with a grin.

"Think you understand it better now?"

"...Yes a bit. She is funny."

"Right?"

"Nora's confuseeeeeed."

"It's alright, Nora. We'll tell you when you're older."

"Hey!" she pouted as Ren stifled laughter.

I turned to see Ruby holding her hand out to Weiss.

"Hello Weiss! I'm Ruby. Want to hang out?... We could go shopping for school supplies."

"Yeah! And we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys, like blond, tall, and scraggly over there."

I snorted before activating a long range Dust spell, summoning a gust of wind from under her skirt, getting a flash of black lace, and a yelp.

I winked at Ruby before turning away, appearing like I wasn't responsible.

The older sister burst out laughing.

Ren gave me a secret fist bump.

"Now that's a fun blond!" She smirked, elbowing Ruby. "Weiss, you're surprisingly daring aren't you? Not even your color scheme."

Her angry retort was cut off by the professors Ozpin and Goodwitch walking onto the stage.

"...I'll keep this brief." Ozpin fixed his glasses. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose and direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove your knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Then the jerkface walked away, slowly leaving the stage as he turned to me and met my eyes, a small smirk forming after he had done so.

Goodwitch stepped up in continuation.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed."

I sighed. I walked off toward the door that Ozpin left out of, ignoring Ren and Nora's confusion behind me.

"You're annoying as usual, Oz."

Ozpin turned around with a sinister smirk. It's the closest thing he ever has to a smile.

"I could say the same to you, foolish little brother."

"Yeah, call me that after I consider you an older brother."

"That would take the fun out of it. Good luck on your initiation. Not that you should need it."

I glared at his back as he walked away. Limping ever so lightly as always.

End

Please Review!


	2. All My Hatred

AN: And if this is a cause for concern, I don't dislike Weiss and I do not bash on her. I think her character is awesome. But I also feel that her character type is the best to tease and make fun with. Just saying.

And I'm not sure about the pairing as of yet. Hell, I might let certain characters get together and break up just to see what would happen. My girlfriends a bit twisted that way, and it rubs off on me sometimes. Good for plot though.

Begin!

"I knew I should have brought a sleeping bag just in case…"

"It was in the suggested inventory list." Ren laughed at me.

"My idiot of a brother didn't give the the damn list. Just told me to pack and threw my ass on the Dustplane."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. I could have flown here on a mount instead. I don't get motion sick on animals, just any Dust-vehicle larger than a house."

Ren chuckled, the two of us finally having some peace now that Nora had fallen asleep, mumbling about marshmallows and riding bareback on some poor Ursa.

With Nora you had to feel bad for the monsters, as much as I hated them.

"Well, I guess I should change out of these clothes." I said, pulling a beater and shorts out of my luggage bag which had been finally delivered after three delays and given to the wrong student twice.

With my limited human interaction, seeing as the village I had lived in for most of my life only had eight people, I did not know that you had to go somewhere private to change.

I mean, I didn't take my boxers off, I'm not that stupid.

But I was in just boxers for a moment, not knowing what the whistling was about.

"Dude… why did you change in the middle of the room?"

"Huh? I have to change somewhere, right?"

Ren sighed wryly.

"There's a changing room over there." He said, pointed at two sets of curtains that had been drawn up on a metal structure. "I know you told me you're from the countryside, but we normally don't change in public."

"Huh. Ok. I'll make note of that. Should I feel embarrassed?"

Somebody cried out "Hell no!", much to the public enjoyment, if the laughter and giggling was any indication.

"Maybe you should," Ren agreed, "but don't pretend if you're not, I guess."

"Huh, ok. I'm gonna grab a bottle of water. Want one?"

"I think I'll be fine. Here, it's not much, but a spare blanket should be better than sleeping on plain ground."

"Thanks Ren, you're an awesome friend, you know that?"

"Thank you. And you're welcome."

Then Ren fell asleep practically right away.

The boy loves sleep, I guess. A man after my own heart.

I got up and headed to the small late-night cafeteria area by the ballroom, seeing Ruby and her older sister I waved as I passed by.

The blonde, Yang, I believe her name was wolf-whistled at me before Ruby smacked her in the face with a pillow, looking quite embarrassed for some reason or the other.

"Hey Ruby, cute PJs!"

I ducked as a feather stuffed projectile of doom came flying at me.

I didn't understand, girls were supposed to like compliments, right? Maybe I should have complimented Yang in tangent? She looked really good in orange. Very good compliment to her skin tone, although much more skin than I was used to seeing.

"Hey! What did I do? If it's a pillow fight you're looking for, I don't have anything but a blanket I'm borrowing, so I can't humor you, ya know."

I smirked after that.

"But hey, thanks for the pillow. How'd you know I'd need one?"

Yang burst into laughter and blocked a book that Ruby threw.

Must be nice having a sibling that you can get along with. Must be real nice. Although I'd rather die before I got chummy with Ozpin. I wish I had a jerk of a brother who's only goal in life was to apparently torment me with things that I've never wanted.

Like my puppy being turned into a Dust-experiment and turning into a Cerebrus.

Or my clothes with experimental combustion Dust runes that lit on fire while I was in the middle of the street and stood in the sunlight just a little too long.

Or the fact that I'm here at Beacon, although my life isn't boring again as a result.

Hopefully the last won't be too bad.

"Give back my pillow you jerk!"

"Nah, I think I'll use it. Just remember you're the one that tried to bean me in the head. I'm just taking reparations. Spoils of war, if you will. A Huntress to be as yourself should know of that."

And as a result the rest of the night became uneventful and I slept outside under the stars. After all, even with the high elevation it was an unusually warm night and we had shower access in the morning. I didn't think that it would be a problem.

I was half right.

Apparently the dew of the morning grass can be pretty intense and I didn't even need to head in to shower. Especially with a nice, clean stream close by.

Amazing how convenient things can be.

Although I did lose my handmade acorn soap, which was a shame, but I can always make another one. It's not like it's a huge setback.

So I walked into the bathroom area, the male one, to see Ren brushing his teeth tiredly, Nora chatting behind him.

"Sup Ren, Nora. Good morning." I smiled before pulling out my morning necessities.

I lit a candle, scented with sage and peppermint, by my sink, a morning ritual at my village alongside a thin long stick of incense that I lit, meditating for a minute before extinguishing the remains. I brushed my teeth with a cleansing salve made with my own hands, once again tradition and part of the ritual before washing my face and wiping it clean with a large basil leaf.

I do hope I have enough to last me a while, I thought before extinguishing the candle.

The two were staring at me.

Nora was even… quiet… although it might have been more of her taking in the scent of the candle and rosewood incense.

"...What?"

"Do you normally do that? Your aura went off the charts even while you were brushing your teeth."

"Ermmmm, it did? I must have meditated a tad too hard with the incense… And yeah, it's just a morning ritual/tradition. Even if it means that I'm late to something I'll do it. It's just like a daily necessity to me. By the way… what's Nora doing in the mens room? It may have not mattered back at the village, but I'm sure that it's some sort of social boundary here or something, right?"

"I don't know. She's just like this."

"Ah."

"Hey, hey Jaune. Can you tell me where to find one of those candles? It's like so relaxing! Plus it's way better than the stuff that Ren's family uses for their ceremonies and stuff and I only keep the one I got from his parents cuz they're a gift, I've never used them."

"Oi, that's a family recipe."

"Well it kind of smells like bad cold medicine."

Ren sighed before smiling.

"I know, I hate it too."

I laughed before digging through my bag of shower supplies before tossing her a candle wrapped in cold Dust wrap. Dust infused cloth is so cheap outside of the village. I guess because it isn't all handmade.

"Take it. It's handmade, so you won't find it anywhere though. I'm the last person that knows how to make it now."

"Cool! Thank you thank you thank you! Mmmmm. It's like a pine forest in the rain! Oooh! Ren, you have to figure out how to replicate this!"

Ren laughed tiredly before putting away his supplies as well.

"Well, I guess it's time to head to breakfast then. You coming Jaune? Although I'm sure we might gain some attention when we leave the bathroom."

"Sure," I shrug, "and whatever for?"

"Well, most people don't have morning rituals that involve letting out large amounts of aura."

"Ah, is that so?" I asked as we left the room, getting cautious, then strange, looks as Nora followed us out while smelling her newfound candle.

"Most people just brush their teeth, wash their face, and sometimes they take a shower."

"Oh, I cleaned my body too. There's a perfectly good stream outside."

Nora giggled. Ren stared at me before shaking his head.

"Let me guess. People don't bathe outside either?"

"You're like a wild animal!" Nora laughed, "Do you have special handmade soaps and shampoos too?"

"I don't really know what shampoo is," I laughed as we headed into the dining area. "but I do make soap using acorns. It's my favorite for soaps. Although one time I did get to work with fruits. It went well enough, but my grandfather got mad at me for wasting food, so I haven't done it since."

"...You can make fruit scented soaps?"

"...Nora, you're getting awfully close."

"Can you make fruit scented soaps?"

"...Yes?"

She squealed as she jumped up and down before shaking Ren vigorously, who tiredly stood there and let her treat him like a rag doll.

"Ren! Renny, Ren, Ren! You, me, and Jaune are now all besties! Ok?!"

"Huaaah…" Ren sighed, "Alright, alright, can we just eat some pancakes now, I'm still waking up and I'm starved."

"I agree. I'd like to know what this pan-cake is though. Why would you have cake for breakfast? And since were pans edible?"

Ren burst out into laughter as he grabbed these strange circular slices of bread, put it on a plate, poured some sort of viscous liquid over it with a small piece of butter as he handed it to me.

"It's more like bread. Just softer. Try it."

We sat at tables and ate while Nora blabbered about how we should try and find a way to all get on the same team. Which wouldn't have been bad. Actually, it sounded quite fun to me.

After breakfast we all gathered in the locker room where we had been assigned lockers to store away equipment in. I waved to them as I headed for my own locker, Nora now talking about using sloth sounds so that the three of us know where to find each other. Whatever a sloth was.

Then she made some comment about how they were together, but not together as in a couple, although it seemed obvious to me that she did like him in such a manner. Although I may be wrong.

I need to study more on normal teenage human interaction. Most of my village were all older than me. To be honest I was the only one of my own age group, so my communication skills were probably greatly lacking.

Putting on my gear took only a minute and after closing the locker and resetting the passcode like instructed I turned to leave before noticing Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and some attractive redhead dressed like this one Amazoness comic that existed in the village. Apparently it was Ozpins' comic, but I'd only ever seen the cover, never really caring too much to look inside.

"Hey Ruby. And, Yang, I believe? I couldn't find you in the morning, so here. Your pillow. It was very useful."

Good thing I dried it beforehand, huh?

"Hey there hot stuff." Yang smiled at me. It was almost… predatory. It made me feel like a rabbit Faunus.

"Hello!" I replied cheerfully as Ruby angrily snatched the pillow away, but not before stopping and sniffing it.

"Oh, aren't you forward little sis?" Yang teased, I think that was teasing. It sounded like teasing somehow, though I couldn't fathom the reason why.

"No! Don't listen to her Jaune! It's just… it smells like acorns and mint."

"Wha?" Yang snatched the pillow from her sibling before taking a whiff herself. "You're right it does… It's actually not bad. Some kind of shampoo you're using."

"Ok, what is this shampoo people keep talking about. I know soap, but not shampoo." I asked leaning back as both Yang and Ruby sniffed at me curiously.

"Are you stupid? How do you not know what shampoo is? What, are you from the boonies?"

Way to cut into our conversation Weiss. If you want to be their friend, you could just ask.

"I lived outside of Vale my whole life? Does that get included in these boonies? I've heard the term maybe three times, but nobody explained what that was either."

"It's… just… you probably don't really want to know." Ruby told me in a placating tone of voice.

"If you say so Ruby. So, you ready for the big trial?"

"Yup! It's time to do what I do best! Today, I can just let my sweetheart do that talking." she grinned happily while caressing her mecha-shift scythe in its compact form. "No more awkward small talk for me!"

I wish I could have her kind of happiness about weapons.

Before Ozpin forced me to, I've never really needed weapons other than for hunting.

"Just remember that you're not the only one going through initiation, Ruby." Yang admonished softly, sisterly. Makes me miss my family.

Except Ozpin, who I can't stress enough could just go suck a Nevermore talon and die.

"If you want to grow, you have to meet new people and learn to work together." she continued, hands on hips.

"Uggggggh, you sound just like daaaaaad." Ruby whined. "First of all explain to me what meeting new people has to do with fighting?"

"You learn new techniques, fighting styles, and how to adapt to multiple and varied situations, increasing your chances of survival after every encounter?"

"Yeah, that!" Yang agreed happily, stepping unusually close to me, even by my village's standards.

"Jaune! You're supposed to be helping me, not her! Besides, I thought I could maybe be on a team with you. And maybe Jaune, I guess if he feels like joining. Besides! I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk."

"...Boy that last sentence really threw the conversation in a weird direction."

Ruby punched me in the shoulder, just below the shoulder guards before shaking her fingers out in light pain. Wow her face really gets as red as her namesake. Is that why she's called Ruby?

"Hey, what did I do?"

"You're just… just… gah! I can't even get mad at you!"

She was trying to get mad at me? Why would anybody try to get mad? Being mad isn't fun…

"I suppose that's my cue to leave, right? I saw this in a play."

I took Yang's laughter as a 'yes'.

I turned around to catch Weiss talking to the amazon girl, who seemed more distracted by the conversation between Ruby, Yang, and I than Weiss.

Though some of the faces Weiss made after asking her about perhaps forming a team together was a bit… frightening, perhaps is a good way to put it. Anyways, it certainly didn't look benevolent, but not particularly malevolent either.

"You're the girl that had the wardrobe malfunction during that argument with Ruby, right?" Don't ask me why I approached her. Even I didn't know why. I just did.

Maybe it's the 'Strangers are only friends you haven't met yet' mentality that my mom raised me with before she passed away when I was six? I don't know.

"Don't you dare bring that up!"

"Sure, if you want me to. Nice to meet you two."

"Nice to meet you!" the amazon girl smiled eagerly, oh how nice! A friendly person, yay! "I'm Pyrrah."

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Jaune D'Arc." I shook her hand with a smile, "Is that armor of yours handmade? The details and fineries are expertly done, but the leather and metals speak of tradition rather than most of the generic mass produced items that I've been seeing everywhere."

"Yes, it is! You're the first to notice. My aunt made it for me. She was a huntress before she went into the blacksmithing and leatherworking trade. She's amazing."

"I can tell. I took up blacksmithing well enough, but I never could manage leatherworking. The smells are always too much for me. I'm much better with herbology and making medicine."

"How interesting!"

Wow, it's so nice having such a kind person to talk to.

Uh oh, looks like Weiss is getting angry though.

"Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Miss Pyrrah? I'm sure that's what you said your name was, right? She's nice."

"Ugh. You're such a hick. Pyrrah graduated top of her class at Sanctum."

"Oh, this may be late but, congratulations!"

She beamed at me, flushing. See I knew my mom was right when she said women like compliments! So many people outside the village are so gosh-darn weird sometimes.

"Do you know what Sanctum is?"

"That's a combat school known for sending students into major tournaments in Vale right? I heard about this from my brother who I wish would drop dead in the hallways of school."

The two both blinked at me in surprise and I even saw Ruby and Yang, who were a distance away turn at me strangely.

"...What? Isn't Sanctum supposed to be famous? I got a crash course on important people and places around Vale before I came here, you know. I'm ignorant but not absolutely ignorant."

"I know we aren't a part of the conversation, but that's the first time I've heard you talk bad about anyone, I think." Ruby piped up. "You hate your brother that much? Isn't he the reason you're here?"

"Something like that. Although that's part of the reason I hate him."

"I'm actually almost surprised you know what hate is." Weiss scoffed.

"Yeah me too. Before I met him, I didn't really know what hate felt like. I had to be told afterwards what it was."

Then three of them, not Pyrrah, because she's nice like that, as all people should be, sighed at me like I was some sort of idiot.

That actually kind of hurts, girls.

"Hey, don't stare at me like that as if I'm stupid. I know things… wait… Pyrrah, you wouldn't happen to be the mascot of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes, would you?"

"Yes I am. Though unfortunately it's not very good for you."

"Who cares? That's the first thing I ate outside the village! It's great!"

Maybe that was the wrong thing to say as Ruby slowly gave me angry glares.

Then an announcement rang out, apparently saving my hide.

"Would all first year students, please head to Beacon Cliff for initiation." the fake sounding voice called out. "Again, all first year students, please head to Beacon Cliff immediately."

"Ah, great. Please tell me _he_ isn't going to be there." I grumbled before turning to walk off, shoulders hunched. "Please tell me he's not there, oh Dust, please."

No such luck.

"I hate my life."

"Ok, who's this brother that you hate so much."

"He's here, I'm not allowed to say who my brother is, but he's here and I'd like to run him through with my swords and dry out his husk before using it as kindling for a bonfire."

"...Wow you really hate this guy." Yang sounded mildly impressed, "Now I really want to know what he did to you."

"...It's more like what he didn't do. What he never did."

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now," Goodwitch continued, "I'm sure many of you have rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today."

Ruby whimpered next to me.

"You'll be fine, little red riding hood."

Yang snickered.

Ruby punched me in the ribs, but seemed less tense.

Dad always said a little pain for friends is no pain at all. But she punches hard!

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon." Ozpin said while turning to look at me, amusement glittering in the eyes I wanted to gouge out with a rusty spoon. "So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone that you can work well."

Ruby whimpered again. More like mewling this time.

Is she and Yang part Faunus? Or maybe just Ruby? They don't seem related after all…

"That being said. I've decided that the first person that you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Oh shut up Ozpin. Ruby looks like she's about to crack.

"See, I told you!" Nora jibed at Ren with a grin further to the middle of the line.

"Afterwards, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition in your way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path… or you will die."

Great. Now he's being melodramatic.

Blah, deblah, freaking blah.

"You will be monitored for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. One of you, who I have spoken with prior to arriving at Beacon is also not allowed to fail on purpose."

Tsk. Well there goes that plan.

"In the forest you will find an abandoned temple at the end of your path, containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item as well as your standing and we will grade you appropriately. Any questions."

"Yes, am I allowed to give a specific brother of mine all my hatred?"

"No. Any intelligent questions?"

Screw you, Ozpin, screw you.

"No? Good. Take your positions."

The platforms that we stood on launched us into the air one by one.

All my hatred, Ozpin. All of my hatred.

End

AN2: Hmmm. Somehow I just ended up finishing this too. So, yeah, UPLOAD!

Remember to review!


	3. Yellow Brick Road in the Emerald Forest

AN: God I love being able to write again! Whoo! Free time! Praise the lord my brothers and sisters, praise him! Remember to review! It's like food for the soul. Feed the beast inside fools.

Begin

As I flew through the air, I sighed. This was not the worst thing that could happen. I enjoyed flying, just not in vehicles.

Dust, I could have flown to Beacon on my own, but Ozpin just loves the screw with me.

I let my aura extend from behind my shoulder blades, white wings bursting, scattering the occasional feather into the atmosphere, just because I've always been able to do so naturally didn't mean diddly-squat for my control and the aura tended to leak off as feathers as a result.

Flying was always soothing for me.

"What the, hey, is that all aura?!"

I turned to my left to see Yang following me the best she could by propelling herself with fire.

"Yeah, it is, why?"

"Why the heck would you use up all your aura so early? That's ridiculous."

"Huh? What are you talking about? I could do this for hours."

She gaped at me before slowly losing her ability to stay afloat in the air.

"You!" She grinned wildly, "You're gonna be on my team if I get any say in it!"

"If we find each other, sure." I agreed laughing.

Yang was nice, confusing, but she said what was on her mind. Simplicity at it's best. I like that.

After deciding that I should probably land and find somebody instead of gliding aimlessly in the sky, I landed neatly and cleanly, without causing the forest any unneeded harm.

"Hmmm." I tossed one of the throwing knives hidden in my armored boots into the air with a lash of my leg. "I'll head this-away then." I decided by the falling of my knife before pulling it from the ground and locking it back into the firing mechanism.

I saw a flash of red hair in the distance.

Oh please tell me it's the nice girl that I met this morning. Pyrrah, was it? The amazon girl? That would be awesome.

"Oi, Pyrrah! Is that you?"

She turned around and I was happily correct.

"Oh! Jaune! How nice to see you! I was wondering if you were just going to wait by the temple. You were certainly flying fast enough. I've never seen anybody summon wings using aura before. It was very impressive."

"Thank you. And apparently, yeah. I've been able to do that ever since I found I could use aura when I turned four. I just assumed that everyone could do it since I was the only person at my village who could use aura in the first place. I mean, my brother who I wish would get snatched up by a Nevermore and torn alive by its nest brood, could do so too, so… yeah."

She giggled, it was a soft sound, like leaves shaking due to falling droplets of rain. Something nature-y like that at least.

"Well, do you have a spot left on your team?"

"Of course." I smiled, "Now which way's North? I'm afraid that other than people pointing at me which way to go I'm terrible with directions."

"Judging from the sun, I'd say it's this way."

"By all means, lead the way."

We did head north, but all we ended up coming across was a shady looking cave and some symbols outside of it in some prehistoric looking cave art.

"...Think we're supposed to go through this?"

"I don't know." I peered inside. "It looks shady."

"Indeed. Too much like a trap."

"...Hey hold your hands up in the air."

Pyrrah did so as I went behind her.

"Like this?"

"Yeah, hold still. I'm going to fly us up, but I want a run just in case."

"Huh? Wait, Jaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuune!"

Grabbing her by her inner forearms, letting her grab mine in the same fashion, I flew into the air, seeing a bunch of ruins in the distance.

"That looks like the right place right?" I asked looking down.

"Yes. The view is incredible, though I would like more of a warning next time."

"Sure, no problem."

So we arrive, nice and peacefully, with no problems whatsoever. Nice and calm and smooth sailings.

"Hmmm. Looks like we weren't the first ones here. Might be because we spent so much time walking before I decided it would be easier to fly."

"Perhaps, although I do worry about all the feathers you leave behind."

"Yeah, sorry. They dissipate after a minute or two though. They're only there because I'm not too good at controlling it. My aura kind of has a mind of its own. Luckily it tends to agree with me most of the time." I chuckled as I looked at the relics.

They were oversized chess pieces in gold and black. No pawns, but rooks, knights, bishops, queens and kings. Which was a shame. I always thought that if you used pawns correctly, they became the most useful piece on the board.

"How did you learn about aura, Jaune? It takes a very specific type of training to unlock it and most schools of combat tend to guard them zealously."

I scratched my head.

"I... fell off a cliff?"

"...How is that training? What teacher in their right mind would do that to help somebody learn to use a power that resides deep within them. You need a calm mind, not panic."

I shrugged.

"I slipped down a cliff-face that I was climbing when I was four. My mother was sick and the medicinal plant that could cure her was at the top of a tall cliff. All I remember was desiring wings so I could fly to the top as I fell and that's what happened." I smiled sadly, remembering the past. "I was too late though. I didn't have the energy to hold them out long enough and couldn't fly all the way back. She died painlessly though. I just hope she didn't worry too much."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault." I turned at the feeling of two auras headed towards us, like fire and darkness. "Oh, heyyyyy! Yang! And her friend! Hiiiiiiii!"

"Jaune? Is that the temple?" the longhaired blond yelled back, her provocative, cowboy-esque outfit fluttering by the wind.

"I think so!" I yelled back.

The black haired one walked down the hill she and Yang were on and headed towards us. She had the most unique bow on her head, I've never quite seen one placed quite so perfectly still. Her aura held the element of darkness in contrast to Yang's fire or Pyrrah's physicality.

"I'm Blake. Pleasure to meet you."

"Same, same! How was your trip through the woods?"

"I ran across Yang as she was beating up two Ursa's like a madman."

"Hey, I couldn't help get angry, they cut some of my hair!"

Blake scoffed softly.

"It was like two inches of a single hair. You've been griping about it the whole way here."

"...Isn't a woman's hair her life?"

"See? Jaune gets it!"

"I'm not sure if I do. It's just something my mom used to say."

Pyrrah laughed as Blake sighed.

"Whatever," the bow wearing girl said. "So these are the relics, huh?"

"Yeah. They're chess pieces. Which makes me wonder, how are they relics? I mean, as far as my senses tell me that other than having a little aura infused in them for monitoring purposes and being made with clay with some Dust sprinkled in it, they're remarkably normal."

"So they're ceramic?" Yang asked, picking it up. "Yep, that's ceramic alright. Hey Blake! How about a cute little pony?"

Blake laughed lightly at Yang's antics.

Wow even her smiles seem a little mysterious. I guess that's just an aspect of her darkness type aura?

"Sure." Blake agreed.

"Hey that means we need to be careful. Moving too fast or turning too hard might break the relics, meaning that we probably want to avoid any heavy fighting until we get back to the top off the cliff."

"Hmm, good point Jaune." Pyrrah agreed.

"Still, this wasn't so hard." Yang grinned with a million watt smile.

"It's not like this place was too difficult to find." Blake agreed with a nod.

"Pft. Yeah totally, cuz you know I didn't have to fly up into the air to get our bearings and locate the temple."

Blake turned to me with a raised brow.

"Yeah, I've got a terrible sense of direction." I admitted, embarrassed.

I felt a chill run down my spine.

"Hey, do you girls hear that?"

"What is it?" Pyrrah asked me.

"It's like a small girl screaming." I looked up.

There was a black and red fleck in the sky and slowly growing larger… it was a small girl screaming. A small cute little red riding hood who wanted to grow up to be a scythe-sniper mecha-shift weapon wielding girl.

I bent my knees, focussing a little aura beneath my feet and readying to deploy my wings.

"HEADS UUUUUUUUUUP!" Ruby screamed in terror.

"I got her." I launched myself into the air before slowing down using my wings. Holding her in a bridal carry, I descended slowly to the ground. "You ok, Ruby? How were you still in the air? I thought you landed before me."

"Put… put me down!" Ruby's face turned into one.

"Sure thing."

Yang laughed as Ruby crumpled down on uneasy legs.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked Yang, curiosity in her eyes.

"I think so." Yang laughed, "Although it probably wasn't so bad being caught by wonderboy over there."

"What's a wonderboy? Can you eat it?"

"Don't worry about it." Ruby told me as I gave her a hand to get up. "She's just kidding."

"So it's like mythical animal. Ok, I get it."

Any possible retort was cut off by the sound of something crashing into trees.

Turning to the source we saw a rampaging Ursa headed towards us looking like it was in pain, of all things. Then a crash of pink plasma exploded across its back and it crumpled forward dead.

It was Nora.

It was Nora riding an Ursa.

It was Nora riding an Ursa with a loud "Yee-ha!"

It looked fun. Indubitably, undeniably, and decisively fun.

"Awwwww. Its broken…" she pouted before zipping on top to examine the hole she blew in its back.

And there was Ren, right behind her! I knew they'd find each other!

"Nora? Please… don't ever do that again." He tiredly panted.

"Hey Ren!" I smiled waving at him.

He nodded my way before turning at Nora who had disappeared from her spot. She had made a dead sprint forward when he was panting and was already eying a golden rook.

"Ooooh, shiny." She grinned happily.

Picking it up she started playing around with it, striking various poses.

"I'm queen of the castle~ I'm queen of the castle~"

"NORA!" Ren barked with mild annoyance.

"He he he~ Coming Ren~" She grinned at attention.

Blake turned to me this time.

"She's your friend, right?"

I nodded.

"Yup. Apparently Ren, Nora, and I are besties because I can make fruit soaps."

"...What?" The remaining girls who did not know of this turned to me in surprise.

"Yeah. I make candles, incense sticks, soaps, salves, medicines, and a variety of cleansers for both skin and internal circulatory because of village tradi- why is everybody so close to my face?"

"You can make scented soaps?"

"And candles?"

"Cleansers?"

"Can you make make-up too?"

"Er… yes, yes, yes, and well, yes, but I've only done the last one maybe three times- please stop shaking me! Please note that I get motion sickness!"

They laughed nervously, letting go and taking a step back as Nora did a cartwheel while humming that she was the queen of the castle. Ren just laughed laughed, hands still on his knees.

As the only male here and because of my great confusion, and mild fear, I turned to him.

"Ren, I don't understand."

"It's ok, Jaune. It's ok, they don't mean harm."

"Are you sure? They have a glint in their eyes that I'm unfamiliar with."

"It's not harmful… probably…"

"That's not reassuring, man!"

Then a loud crash came from the opposite side of the temple, from the direction that Pyrrah and I had come from.

"...Crap, did that thing follow us? It's swiping at the feathers that I must have left behind." I chuckled nervously as a Death Stalker burst through the trees like the two story house sized scorpion monster it was, stinger glowing like a golden idol, and moss growing from the dirt that must had been lodged in the stone-like exoskeleton, white shells patterned with red streaks gave extra armor to the sleek black carapace of the Grimm.

"There was a picture of a scorpion on the cave walls that we passed. That must have been inside and caught the scent of your aura." Pyrrah analyzed, eyeing the Grim warily.

"Great. I'm monster bait."

"Wait, that thing followed- sis?! YANG!" Ruby cried out arms toward her sister.

"RUBY!" Yang laughed as she followed suit.

"NORA!" Nora cried out popping out between them, almost smacking them both in the face.

"Not the time Nora." Ren and I both sighed tiredly.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Yang yelled, her aura flaring in a small explosion of flame, "Can anybody just chill out for two seconds before anything crazy happens again?"

One second…

Two seconds…

"Uhm Jaune? I might need your help."

"Sure, Ruby, what is it?"

She pointed up.

It was Weiss hanging onto a Nevermore's talon, crying down the words, "How could you leave me?!"

"I said jump." Ruby replied with light exasperation.

"She's gonna fall." Blake told Ruby.

"She'll be fine~"

Stop sounding like you're just reassuring yourself, Ruby, that's not what friends or partners do you know…

I sighed ready to jump up and catch her like I did Ruby.

"She's falling." Noted Ren.

"I got it… again." I laughed inwardly as I flew into the air catching Weiss in a bridal hold. "Just dropping in?" I joked, a smile on my face.

Huh, what do you know. Her face can have color after all! I guess the sun must have been good for her. I mean she's alway so pale. Not that it doesn't work for her, it works really well for her. It's just, you know. I guess I'm not used to seeing many pale people as a principle.

I let her down on the ground softly.

She mumbled something about a heron? Hero? Something like that.

"You ok, Weiss?"

"I'd have been fine!" She turned away from me before verbally admonishing Ruby about jumping without her after forming some crazy plan to fly on a Nevermore.

Ok, fine, I can just let you fall next time… no I won't, I'm too nice and I don't hate you.

Now if that had been Ozpin… he he…

"Great the gangs all here. Now we can die together." Yang cried out with sarcasm.

Ruby grinned before looking at the Death Stalker excitedly.

"Not if I can help it!" She rushed the scorpion Grim with a blast of aura from her scythe-sniper, only to be knocked back by an oversized claw the size of a large rhinoceros.

"Don't worry! I'm totally fine!"

Apparently seeing as she took a potshot at the Death Stalker and ran back towards us.

"Ruby!" Yang and I shouted in worry.

Yang shot off, dashing towards her sister.

I looked back further behind to see the Nevermore that Ruby and Weiss were hitching a ride on earlier had circled around, headed for the small scythe user.

"Crap!" I drew my second sword out, its white silver frame for a sword type mecha-shift weapon flashing, light falling through the gaps before I drew my hunting knives out and connected them hilt to hilt through the large center gap meant for mechanical parts.

My aura flared as I drew the sword and hunting knife-gun combo like a bow, the crystal from the knifeguns extending to form a overgrown bow.

I drew back the sword like a large arrow, the empty space that was left behind when drawn filled with orange and yellow aura, like that of the blades. Orange for the element of speed. Yellow for the element of lighting.

"Ruby run!" I cried as I let go of the sword's pommel.

A giant magic arrow blazed faster than a bullet, like a narrow column of light as it grazed past the beak and eye of the Nevermore, stunning, cracking the red streaked, white bone mask, and knocking its attack off course. The bow spun in my hand through one of the trigger guards as the bow portion blocked the hilt of the sword, impeding the sword from becoming a projectile itself.

The avian Grim had fired a plethora of large heavy feathers at the sisters, and one that would have pierced through Ruby's body in another world, missed and only pinned her by her crimson cloak.

"Hwah… I made it… thank Dust… I wasn't sure if that would work..."

"You used an attack you made on the spot to save a friend?" Blake looked at me with wide eyes, the amber clearly portraying shock. "Are you crazy?"

"If I had shot normally, I wouldn't have made it in time! I won't let anybody die in front of my eyes again!" I turned from her, putting the weapons away, "Besides, I've always been a better shot with a bow."

"Ruby get out of there!"

"I'm trying Yang!" She replied as she tugged at her cloak.

"Ruby, just cut through it, you idiot!" I dashed forward as well to help, the knife-guns drawn again, mecha-shifting to a usable dual pistol form.

At that moment a white flash flew like another arrow past us all with a distinctive chill only felt through a Dust spell. As the Death Stalker pulled back its stinger ready to strike, as it lashed forward the golden poison filled point was trapped in a wall of ice.

"You are _so_ childish." Weiss glanced at Ruby over her shoulder, a look of relief clear on her face.

"...Weiss?..." Ruby looked up in a mixture of surprise, gratitude, confusion, and awe.

"...and dimwitted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style." the white haired heiress pulled her revolver-rapier out of the ground.

She took a deep breath.

"And I suppose," she continued, "I can be a bit… difficult? But if we're going to do this… we're going to have to do this together." She finished with a tentative smile. "So if you quit trying to show off… I'll be… nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off." Ruby weakly responded, "I want you to know I can do this."

"...You're fine."

Weiss started to walk back towards us as Ruby sighed, her hands held together.

Then she muttered something about normal knees? Bees? I know that's a giant Grimm scorpion's stinger in front of you, but that's no way like a bee's. But I digress.

I laughed as I lifted Weiss by the waist in a hug and spun her around, much to everyone's shock and Weiss's eternal embarrassment, as I'd find out far into the future.

"That was amazing! Incredible! You saved her!"

"P-put me down you scraggly idiot! It's not like I did it for you in the first place! Hey!"

"Ha ha that was so awesome that I could kiss you!"

"Wh-what are you saying?!" She cried out, face flushed crimson.

I let her down before laughing and helping Ruby up.

"And you! You almost gave me a heart attack. If I didn't knock that Nevermore back, you would have died!"

"...Sorry."

I pulled her close and hugged her, burying her face in my chest. Forgetting partly about my chestplate.

"I'm glad you're alright…"

"...Me too…"

Yang joined in on the hug making it a three-way hug.

"I'm so happy you're ok!" She smiled, her eyes teary. "Thank you for shooting that Nevermore." She told me with sincere eyes.

I smiled again.

"Of course. I'd do it anyday. For her, for you, and for anyone else. But we should get out of here, they're not gonna stay down for long." I let go and turned around, "Every pair that doesn't have a relic, grab one now! With these two around, we only get one shot! Don't you dare break them and have to double back! Move, move, move!"

"Yeah, there's no need to dilly-dally, our objective is right in front of us." Weiss agreed, her face decidedly less red, more pink, and closer to her usual pale whiteness.

"There's no sense in fighting these things." Ruby agreed, somewhat ironically.

Run and live.

That's an idea I can get behind.

Pyrrah picked up a golden rook before tossing it to me. Catching it, I put it in one of the small pouches at my waist. Ruby chose a gold knight.

I guess she and Yang are sisters after all, huh?

The Death Stalker screeched in anger as it tried to pull back its stinger and Ren nodded, pulling out his guns, also a dual knife-gunner. Interesting.

"Time we left." The magenta eyed gunner said, nodding.

"Let's go then." Blake agreed and the eight of us dashed off towards our starting point. The Beacon Cliff.

"Gah, if only I could fly all of us…"

"Can you fly all of us?" Nora asked excitedly, "Like give us all wings too? Or make a giant cradle and carry us all like a giant Juane-stork?"

"How the heck would I do either of that?"

It was at the last stretch when the Grimm caught up to us, by a set of stone bridges extending from towers that rose up from a canyon whose bottoms we could not see. The Nevermore flew past us, landing on the top of the first tower that stood, overlooking the area.

We all hid behind crumbling stone pillars before the bridge to cut off line of sight and take a short breather as we judged the situation.

"Well thats great." Yang glared at the feathered monstrosity.

At that moment from behind us, the trees were knocked aside as the Death Stalker screeched and clacked its claws.

"Aww man, run!" I cried, dashing forward towards the Nevermore.

"Nora, distract it!" Ren cried out and the orange haired girl giggled as she dodged a hail of spear-feathers before drawing her Dust-nade Launcher and firing rapidly at the Nevermore, forcing it to temporarily retreat.

As she reloaded the Dust-nade cylinders, the Death Stalker reached her location, but was stopped by Ren and Blake slashing at it with the blades of their weapons, followed by Weiss dropping in, using one arm to grab Nora by the waist, she prepped a Dust spell, a Dust sequence circle forming beneath her feet and launching the two forward.

We all ran forward and Ren and I turned back to fire at the Death Stalker, his pistols firing 10mm rounds at rapid to irritate its eyes and mine with .50 BGM rounds normally meant for large rifle use knocking back the stinger tail and leaving cracks in the exoskeleton of the gripping claws, knocking them back.

Pyrrah's gladius-spear also mecha-shifted into a hunting rifle as she used our distractions to fire at the Grimm's joints, .308 rounds sinking into the less armored joints, some piercing into even softer flesh.

At that moment, the Nevermore flew through the bridge separating us into two groups.

"Crap! Ren, Pyrrah, Blake! Jump! I can carry all three of you for a short time!"

"Sounds great! But if we turn around, we're toast!" Ren replied with grit teeth rapid reloading in mid air before spraying Dust laced lead at the Death Stalker.

"Fine then. Nora, I'll carry us over and take Black back to Yang. Ozpin and Goodwitch are probably still watching us. We need to stay in the groups we made!"

"Ok! I got this!" Nora grinned, nice to see she's chipper but- WHOA she knocked me back, an accident it seemed, with her grenade launcher before it mecha-shifted into a giant hammer.

"No, Nora tell me you're joking."

"She smiles, but she's always serious." Ren barked, humorously.

Nora brought the warhammer down, turning it into a catapult and I called out my wings and blocked a stinger headed for Pyrrah who had lost her footing after already blocking a flailing claw.

"Gotcha!"

"Thanks Jaune!" She slung her rifle across my shoulder, using it as a firing point as I drew my knife-guns and sending high power rounds into the insectoid.

Then Nora came crashing down with her hammer, after having ridden on the head, using the Dust-nade fire as propellant. Smashing the body of the Grimm into the ground and riding another Dust-nade explosion, smirking as I fired my last round at the stinger about to strike her, knocking it off course.

"Blake, do you need me to fly you to the others?" I asked reloading to the lighter magazines of 20mm rounds and switching the knife-guns to an automatic rate of fire.

"I can make this." She smirked at me before jumping off, her variant ballistic chain scythe firing like a boomerang and using it as a grappling hook and chain, swinging into the air and slashing away at the Nevermore.

"It's tougher than it looks!" Blake warned her group. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all mecha-shifting their weapons to better attack at long distances.

"Then let's hit it with everything we got!" Yang replied as the four girls blasted Dust artillery at the giant avian.

"Ok! They got the bird, so lets squash this bug and support them. Nevermore's always have a brood close by and if they hear a member fighting, they'll come and join! Go!" I ordered firing at the Death Stalker.

Ren reloaded angrily, "Nothing's working!"

I grimaced as another stinger strike narrowly missed Nora.

"I got an idea! Ren jump behind it and give me five seconds! Pyrrah, use my back and shield boost Nora into the air!"

I dashed forward, calling forth my aura, condensing it, shaping it and in the half second that it took for Ren to leap over the scorpion grim I had formed pieces of armor with my aura, linking it with my actual armor to create a full bodied suit of shining white armor.

While Ren latched onto the scorpion tail, firing bullets into the soft joint behind the stinger with reckless abandon, I roared, the aura armor over my gauntlet expanding to the same size as the Grimm for just a second as I pounded it into the ground, stunning it.

"Nice!" Ren yelled out as he slashed at the armored tail.

"Pyrrah! Blind it!"

"Alright!" she cried as the rifle turned back into her gladius-spear, mecha-shifting into the latter half, she fired a javelin given a boost by an aura-shot firing out the rear end, stabbing viciously into an eye.

Pyrrah and Nora rushed at my back, the redhead landing with both feet on my shoulder, shield held horizontally as Nora hopped on with a boost from her hammer.

"JUMP!" I cried as I extended the leg armor as much as I could in the brief moment that all three of us leapt into the air, sending Nora hundreds of feet into the sky.

The Death Stalker screeched as it tried to flee the falling orange, white, and pink meteorite, but extending and enlarging my gauntlets again as I fell, I grabbed it by the pincers, holding it in place as I extended my wings driving them into the bridge to further anchor me to the stonework.

"I don't think so! Have a taste of Nora!"

"WHOOOO!" Nora agreed as her hammer crushed through the exoskeleton and embedding into the bridge, the Grimm twitching with the last throes of death.

"That was awesome." Ren laughed as he climbed over our kill and looked at the monster.

"Great plan, Jaune!" Pyrrah grinned as she playfully punched me in the shoulder. Though her punches I'm sure would have knocked me to the ground without my aura-armor. "I like the armor. It's a nice touch."

"Thanks, but it's too tiring to hold for long." I smiled as I let it dissipate. I can get maybe three minutes out of it, tops. Less if I keep changing the size and actually giving mass to it. It's weightless otherwise.

We turned around to see the other four firing rapidly at the Nevermore.

"You three wait here, I'm going to go give them air support!"

I flew off toward the giant bird, kicking it in the face as I drew my guns and fired at it.

"This is Vale Kingdom Fried Chicken, where would you like your order?"

Yang laughed as she reloaded her gun-gauntlets.

"Send it towards me, hot stuff!"

"Ok! This one's on the house!"

I flew past her towards the cliff wall, giving her a high five on the way, goading the bird to follow.

Follow it did.

As it opened its beak as an attempt to swallow the blond firebrand whole, she jumped into it, propping it open with her body and an arm, while the other other fired incendiary aura empowered Dust rounds into its gullet, making it shriek as it looped around once.

"Drive it into the cliff behind you Jaune!" Ruby called out with an intense look in her eyes. "Sis! Jump!"

The older sister laughed cheekily as she hopped out of the mouth, letting the bird fly to me.

I formed aura-armor pieces for my gauntlets and arms as I expanded them enough to grab the Grimm by the wings, flinging it into the cliff face with a resounding smash before the bird crumpled to the bottom. I flew towards the girls as it got up, trying to get back into the air.

Weiss dashed towards me and the Nevermore with dazzling white speed, freezing the tail feathers in place, slashing at the beak as she flew back towards us.

Blake and Yang used the rope-chain of Blake's weapon to form a slingshot for Ruby to use, Weiss forming a Dust sequence circle in preparation to further power the launch.

"Of course you would come up with this idea." the icy heiress told the red riding hood.

Ruby just held tighter onto her scythe, where she had placed both feet on the bladeless portion inside the hook, ready to fire an aura-shot to add the third boost.

"You think you can make the shot?"

"Hmph. Can I?"

"...Can-"

"OF COURSE I CAN!"

The two acted in tangent as Ruby flew like a bullet to the Nevermore, scythe hooked at its throat she landed on the rock face of the cliff, ready to tear off the head of the beast.

From a distance Weiss formed a long column of Dust-sequence circles leading up to top of the cliff. Using the propulsion from both Weiss's Dust spells and her scythe's aura-bullets, Ruby raced to the top of the cliff, beheading the Grimm and turning to face us all below with a triumphant swish of her cloak.

"Wow…" I grinned, "I think this is the most fun I've ever had in my life!"

Everybody burst out into laughter. Mad delirious laughter as we all collapsed onto the ground.

"Well I agree… that was a thing." Yang chuckled after the majority of the giggles passed.

"I vote we all get back to the instructors now." Ren smiled tiredly as he raised his hand.

"Agreed."

Maybe I can sneak a punch in Oz's face?

End

As usual, review people. PLEASEEEEEEE. I feel so ALONEEEEEEEE.


	4. RWBY and JNPR

AN: I understand that this series is predominantly heroines, but goddamn is there a lot of yuri in this fanfic section for RWBY. Any good suggestions for a non-yuri read on this page? Next to Jaune Arc's Pain which is actually my original inspiration for Of Another D'Arc.

And props vnixxer at DeviantArt for his YEAAAAAAHHHH comic. Awesomesauce. Really, it is.

Begin

We arrived safely after dodging the fledgling Nevermore brood looking for their dead mother, avoiding a confrontation when we were all at our weakest. Luckily nobody broke a relic, so we were in the clear in that regard.

Ozpin wasn't there to greet us but that was to be expected.

After we killed the Death Stalker, I could tell it had his aura all over it. He sicced a Death Stalker on me. A DEATH STALKER. An Ursa or two? Sure, fine. A pack of Beowolves? Other than numbers? Small fry that could be dealt with.

BUT A FREAKING DEATH STALKER?!

I'LL KILL THAT CREEPY FETISHIST SUPER PERVERTED BASTARD, I SWEAR TO DUST THAT I WILL JUST YOU WATCH!

"...Jaune?" Ruby looked at me slightly fearfully.

"Hmm?... Did I… did I monolouge out loud?"

Everybody nodded.

"Ah, sorry, I have that habit sometimes."

"So," Yang slung her arm around me, getting cheek to cheek. "Who is this asshole brother of yours that sicced the Death Stalker on you? I think I should help you punch him in the junk at least once."

"I'm not usually one for revenge and I don't believe in it, but I agree." Ren spoke up, "Not to mention that this was a test with our futures on the line, but to goad a class B Grimm to attack Beacon Academy hopefuls? That's too much."

"Don't bother you guys. You won't be able to nail him. Probably ever. I've accepted this as a sad fact."

Weiss scoffed as she pulled Yang off of me.

"I think I could hardly believe that. What with that armor you can make with your aura? That's beyond incredible and absolutely versatile. If we could figure out how to lower the aura requirement and output, not only could we dominate the school, but we could take over the business world with the most unique Dust equipment on the market! Surely we can punish one evil older brother."

I sighed, "Weiss, I keep telling you that first of all, I've never seen other people be able to do it. As far as I know, you're not normally supposed to be able to form anything other than basic shapes and structures with solid aura. I've done my research. Spent a whole week at the Valentinian Order of the Seven Saints just observing what I can do in a library and laboratory. It's probably a genetic thing."

Blake looked at me with alarm.

"How did you get into the library of the Valentinian Order? They're a society that's made on invite only! They have so many books, but they only let in a new member or two every decade! Guests aren't even allowed in without a qualified and ranked member within the top ten."

I felt awkward at the stares from all my new friends.

"Uhhhhh… Surprise? One of the many great grandfathers on my mother's side was Valentinus, the order's founder? But, I mean, you're exaggerating here, right? I never realized that the place was so exclusive. I mean it's so _dusty _on the inside, I went through and cleaned the entirety of the library myself after I was done studying. Took three days for just the library and I gave up on the rest of the Order's buildings. At least they keep the labs, kitchens, and living spaces relatively clean. Stupid monks."

Blake's eyes opened more and her eyes sparkled.

She encroached upon my personal space. Note to self, people of Vale do that when they are excited about something. Good. I'm learning more and more how to be normal.

"...I'm guessing you like books?"

"That's an understatement. She couldn't keep her nose out of one when we met." Ruby giggled as she walked past me, turning around and walking backwards facing me. "I'm glad I got a chance to actually talk to her now that we finished initiation though."

"Ha ha, that's nice… Blake?"

"Yes, Jaune?"

I can feel her breath on my neck and the atmosphere is somehow growing heavy.

I think the other girls are slowly going from looking at me to glaring at me.

"...Are you going to keep staring at me?"

"...Maybe?"

"...Huuah… If I take you with me to the library next time I visit, will you stop staring?"

"YES!" She squealed triumphantly before hugging me tightly, making me blush.

"Ok, I get it, you're happy, you can let go now I keep getting these strange stirrings in my chest when all you girls get so close to me."

"A-ah, is that so? Sorry."

How… how is this an incentive for all you girls to suddenly be within elbow reach? Ren? Nora? You two will save me, right?

Please?

I tried to discover if I had latent telepathic powers hidden in my aura.

Ren stared at me.

"What? Is there something on my face, Ren?"

No such luck.

"...Nothing. Just thinking about how small your village must have been to have such little human interaction as you."

"...What's that supposed to mean? And it was just eight people."

"I know you said you lived in a small village, but that is tiny." Yang said, "You could probably fit all those people in just a single room."

"What I'm trying to understand is if you have ties to the Valentinian Order, why your family would choose to live in such a small village. I mean, even the monks of the Order live a fairly lavish lifestyle. Politicians and religious leaders ask them for advice all the time." Weisse followed up, scratching her chin with puzzlement.

I shrugged.

"I liked the village. Besides, they really dislike letting me leave the Order in the first place. Something about needing to hand down success-or-ship or something like that? It's a bit of a pain. The Order does give me pocket money though. I think it's called a fund of trust?"

"A trust fund." Pyrrah helpfully spoke up and I smiled to her.

"Yeah, that!"

"...I think we need to give up trying to understand Jaune, and instead let it happen naturally. He might be a good person, but he's also an idiot beyond words."

"Weiss that hurts!" I whined good-naturedly. It would have indeed if I wasn't so sure that she was joking.

I think.

We all laughed again. Life and death situations really have a way of bringing people together, huh?

"So, how do you guys think team placements are going to go?" I asked as we approached the academy auditorium. "I mean, even though we all worked together, there's eight of us.

"That's a good question, actually." Ren mused, "Logically it will be two pairs of two made in the forest that forms one team. So undoubtedly, Ruby and Weiss, Yang and Blake, Jaune and Pyrrah, and Nora and I will be our own pairs. So looking at those as numbers one through four, only six possible team formations, I believe, with regards to overlap."

"Ren's good with math! The perfect student! He can do long division in his head!" Nora bounced giggling, "He solved a rubix cube with only one glance once."

"Nora, you only twisted one side."

"Still!"

We all laughed again, but there was a glint in most everyone's eyes.

"Well, I think I'll take Jaune and Pyrrah if we get a choice, so dibs!" Yang laughed as she pulled me into a light headlock. My face pressed into the side of her chest, a not entirely uncomfortable position.

"I could visit the Order more easily if we were in the same group." Blake agreed, her bow barely shifting as she nodded. How does it stay so still?

Is this the power of the darkness aura element?! Such mystery!

"Hey, sis, that's not fair! I was friends with Jaune first!" Ruby growled as she pulled at my arm.

"Alls fair in love and war, Ruby."

"But Renny, Jaune, and I are besties!" Nora whined, hands on Ren's shoulders, she straightened her arms to look over all of us, seeming to have grown a few feet in seconds.

"Ahem. I'd like the opportunity to study his aura and the way it draws on Dust and Dust crystals without expending their energy. It's fascinating and would be good for the Schnee corporation once I take over."

I'm glad you're thinking of your future, Weiss, but maybe when I'm not being torn in two different directions by a pair of, at the most, half-sisters?

Pyrrah smiled at me encouragingly. Thank goodness she's so nice and supportive. And doesn't seem too intent on getting anything out of me.

Then again she's slated to be on my team regardless… No! I must imagine that at least there is one person who won't try to pull me back and forth!

"Ahem."

We all turned our heads to see Goodwitch staring at us at the entrance to the auditorium with a mixture of annoyance and amusement on her face.

My face was buried into the left side of Yang's bosom in a headlock, as Ruby tugged at my left arm, holding it tightly to her developing torso, with Weiss pulling at my other arm, more specifically by my fingers, studying me like I was some lab specimen in its final stage of testing. Blake and Pyrrah were both looking at my face, only inches away, both of them shining with excitement and Nora still using Ren as a vantage point while balancing her golden ceramic rook relic on her head.

We must have been quite a sight, I couldn't help to think as everybody let go and stood at attention.

"...I see that the D'Arc charm runs in your blood as well. Everybody inside, wait by the stage and turn in your relics at the table."

She turned around and walked in, us quickly following and doing as she asked.

We all gathered by the stage as Ozpin, may he be recalled by hell and reassigned to endless deskwork and secretary duty, tapped the microphone, looking at the audience. They all consisted of what seemed to be current students at Beacon, most of them looking like they were really tough.

Though there was a small group near the front of people that I recognized as the Beacon Academy hopefuls that weren't with the eight of us and four guys that had passed the exam with us. The skinhead with the creepy blond mohawk kept leering at the girls in our group with obvious interest, giving most of us the creeps.

"Welcome to the entrance ceremony." Ozpin drawled, silencing the murmurs and laughter in the crowd. "As many of you have gone through this ceremony before, I don't think I need to elaborate on how only the best of the hopefuls are accepted as a team into the Academy. The remainder of you who survived will be granted another chance to be in a team for the Winter and Spring quarters, but in the meantime will be admitted in lesser classes, and pay tuition in part via cleaning duties as well as support for the fully fledged teams."

He gazed through the crowd, smirking at the nervous but hopeful looks filling the ones who failed, the cocky jerk.

"Now it is time for the Grimm Encounter."

Cheers and hoots exploded throughout the auditorium.

"What the heck is the Grimm Encounter?" I asked the others and they shrugged.

A tall military looking teen in grey armor with a bird crest on his chestplate smirked at us, "It's a recap of the one boss level Grimm released into the initiation area that is meant to guard the relics. Undoubtedly one of the groups would end up fighting it, or more likely, running from it. The upperclassmen come here just to watch the videos more than attending the ceremonies. The fact that they're showing it is that means that your group likely ran across it. We didn't have to deal with more than a few stray Beowolves."

"Ah, nuts. Publicity. That's all I needed today."

Yang elbowed me, grinning.

"Hey hot stuff, which do you think they'll show? The Nevermore or the Death Stalker?"

"Settle down!" Ozpin spoke softly, but silence descended like a plague, the group of four guys staring at us as Yang encroached more and more into my personal space before Blake pulled her back by her ear. Her amber eyes were filled with mirth.

"This year I decided to step it up, seeing as I personally scouted two individuals for the initiation. Two for two and so I set up two B Class Grimms for the test."

More screams of laughter and jeers.

My eye twitched.

I knew there was something fishy about this exam.

"Let me introduce you to two Grimms you all should be familiar with after the first quarter of Beacon Academy on a knowledge basis. The unparalleled king of the desert places and defiler of caves and crevices: the Death Stalker. And the dark matron of the skies, she who turns day to night: the Nevermore."

Two pictures of the Grimm we fought and slew appeared on the screen, and their size scale comparison to a six foot tall human being. The stupid scorpion was at least three and a half times as tall and four times wide from pincer to pincer when the human scale was laying down. The Nevermore had a wingspan for five and the vertical height of two and a half while perching.

Then the video clips rolled, recorded on Dust Crystals.

"Huh, my armor kind of makes me look fat."

Rose and Nora snickered loudly and Ren shook his head.

I looked up to see me turning my gauntlet into a giant fist before pounding it into the Death Stalker and using both me and Pyrrah's shield to launch Nora into the air. I didn't realize that she had used her hammer to propel herself further up. I just had assumed she only used it on the way down.

Nora and Pyrrah high fived each other.

Meanwhile the Nevermore fight was also being shown next to the Death Stalker and I was impressed at the sheer number of projectiles that were fired at the flying feather duster. Weiss is really good at shooting out rapid fire Dust spells. That was professional dueling level at the least, although, they did have the tendency to curve. I didn't realize that the Nevermore had collapsed parts of the tower when the actual fight had happened though, I suppose that must have been due to adrenaline.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang climbed up the falling rocks, propelling themselves up along the way with chain scythe lashing, aura-bullets, and Dust sequence circles. Then I showed up, goading the giant flying Grimm into Yang who gave it gastric issues, before we trapped it, launching Ruby to behead it with her amazingly overpowered scythe.

I hid behind Ruby, crouching a little.

"What are you doing, Jaune?" Weiss asked me, eyebrow raised.

"They're staring at uuuuuuuuuusssssss. I feel uncomfortable."

"Don't use me as a shield, big guy."

"Ruby Shield, ho!"

"Don't pick me up!"

"Hey, I know my baby sister's the same size as your shield-sheath, but that's not a reason to use her as a shield." Yang laughed, holding her stomach.

"Yang!" Ruby whined, "Don't encourage him!"

"Ahem."

We all rushed to stand at attention, getting some snickers from the crowd, which too was quickly silenced by Ozpin's patented 'I'll Expel You' glare™.

"As you can see. These eight academy hopefuls excelled above the… expectations… that is the norm during this acceptance ceremony. Setting some new records in the books for Beacon Academy. I expect all of you to work harder as to not be outdone by your new underclassmen."

So that was why. Ozpin's painting targets on our backs now? That asshole…

"First let us welcome Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark to the stage. These four were the first to finish the test with the black bishop relics. In that regard they entered as one of the top five groups to finish with fastest time in Beacon Academy. They too, are not to be taken lightly. From this day forward, you will work together as team CaRDinaL to be led by Cardin Winchester. Congratulations."

There was polite applause as CRDL stood on the stage before bowing and leaving as guided by instructors.

Cardin gave me a strange look as he left.

"Next is Jaune D'Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrah Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the golden rook relics. From this day on, you will work together as team JuNiPeR." Nora giggled and glomped Ren who looked mortified that she would do that in front of the headmaster.

Our mother's name?

"You will be led by… Jaune D'Arc!"

That… asshat… I almost thanked him in my mind!

Pyrrah looked at me excitedly, cuffing my shoulder with a playful punch, almost knocking me to the ground, as I didn't have my full armor on. Strong arm, that girl.

In the midst of the applause there was laughter.

Ozpin smirked at me.

I glared back.

"Please, the four of you stay on stage, but make way for the next team."

Ozpin coughed before continuing.

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the golden knight pieces. From this day forward, you four will work together as team RWBY."

He turned to Ruby with a smile.

I had a baaaaad feeling about this...

"And the four of you will be led by… Ruby Rose!"

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang gleefully hugged her sister as my team applauded excitedly.

Heck, even Weiss gave her a smile.

"Now… I asked the previous team to stay because I intend to implement a new change to our standard curriculum for… experimental purposes."

Oh no you don't. You just want to tick me off.

This was not going to be good.

"I am now instigating the Clan System. Each Clan will consist of at the most, five, and at the least, two teams. All Clan decisions will be made by leaders of the teams that the Clan consists of. Clans can earn special privileges, such as better rooming, free Sunday lunches, having the student staff of academy hopefuls clean your rooms on certain days, and the like. With enough prestige, your Clan might even get its own small building for Clan use in one of the empty East lot houses as a base of operations, a Clan Hall, if you will. However, Clans are not permanent, they can dissolve and teams can break off, unlike your teams, they are always subject to change, but only at the end or beginning of an academic quarter. Once formed, you cannot add, replace, or subtract teams from your clan unless at the specific times stated. So choose your allies, and your enemies, wisely."

I do not like where this is going.

"To earn privileges, one must either enter a contest with another Clan to win it, pitting something both sides view as that of equal or near equal value, or earn it in during one of the monthly school wide challenges. Please note that a clan can only be challenged by any group once a week, and that you may trade in smaller privileges to earn greater ones, but should you ride on your laurels and make no progress as a Clan, the Academy will take away privileges. In light of todays events, however, I will generously start the system off with an interesting start. Firstly… Team RWBY and Team JNPR will form as a Clan!"

"We're all in the same clan?! Awesomeness!" Ruby squealed jumping for joy, "We'll be the coolest Clan EVER!"

"I KNOW!" Nora agreed, "Now Jaune can make soaps for EVERYONE!"

"WOOHOO!" the girls all cheered as one, only Weiss looking at Ozpin questioningly.

Please girls, notice that this man is trying to do us all possible harm.

Please?

How can you girls be thinking of soap at a time like this?!

"I will also start them off with the largest privilege of all: a Clan Hall!"

Ripples of whispers and angry remarks flew through the crowd, tearing them into a frenzy.

Ah crap. We're a chunk of meat in a piranha tank.

"This is the best day ever!" Yang cheered.

"And since they are a new Clan, as well as newly formed teams, I will give them a one quarter grace period to keep their Clan Hall, but should they show too little progress it will be taken from them at the end of the quarter."

This is… suspiciously nice of Ozpin. Something's up.

"However, I have another, potentially groundbreaking announcement to make. Jaune D'Arc is my younger half-brother. As such, anyone that faces members of his Clan and wins will walk away with a minor privilege. The Clan that have the most wins against them will be allowed to challenge them for their Clan Hall at the end of the quarter should they have enough credit to keep it in the first place. That is all."

"YOU IRRESPONSIBLE, SADISTIC SON OF A HATCHBURK! YOU TOLD ME NOT TO TELL PEOPLE WE WERE RELATED SO THAT YOU COULD PULL THIS CRAP?! LET ME AT HIM! I'M GOING TO TEAR HIM A NEW- MMMPHGHPHMMMM!" I cried out angrily, my aura flaring out like fire as Ren, Blake, Yang and Ruby held me back the best they could.

"...Congratulations are in order, I'm sure. Turn in your clan name and symbol by sundown tomorrow. You are dismissed. Ms Goodwitch will give you all a map to your new address. Note that you are not allowed to change your rooming assignments, even in a Clan Hall. Good day."

"ALL MY HATRED OZ! ALL MY HATRED!"

"Let's just go already, Jaune." Ren did his best to placate me as he and the others picked me up by my limbs, not letting me walk.

Probably a good thing because I would have tried to smack the crud out of Ozpin.

Not that it wouldn't have been worth it, but he might have changed his mind about the Clan Hall, and that would have people mad at me. Which wouldn't be nice considering how our two teams would be so closely tied together.

I glared angrily at the sky, willing for a bolt of lightning to flash down and strike Ozpin dead.

"So…" Ren said, carrying my left leg, "Let me get this straight. Your brother, the Headmaster, is the one to set the Death Stalker on us?"

"Yup. I could feel his aura all over it after the Grimm's suppressive nature faded when we killed it."

"That's kind of messed up."

"I know… Can you guys all just let me down now?"

"Do you promise not to rush after Headmaster Ozpin and hurt him?"

"...Fine. Even though I'd like to smack him around…"

Weiss rubbed her temples as the others let me down.

"This is _sooo_ weird. So your brother, that you hate, and we can now see reason for, is also our Headmaster."

"Thank you and yes." I said, standing up and walking with the others, brushing my clothes off.

"Even though he gave us something amazing, planted the biggest target in the history of targets on our backs."

"That's the understatement of the year." Blake remarked. "You think they took our luggage to the Clan Hall already?"

"And suddenly forces a whole new academic reward/competition system on the school without a single care for the consequences?!"

"See?! Weiss get's it! He's a madman! He's impossible! He probably made sure my stuff got lost in transit while everybody else's luggage is fine!"

"Ok, hot stuff. Now you're overthinking it."

I stopped walking for a moment to stare at Yang in the eye.

"Weren't you just in there with the rest of us?"

"...Good point."

We continued walking.

"I just don't understand how the two of you are related." Ruby said after some awkward silence, scratching her head. "The two of you feel totally different even when he was being nice to me during the interview I had with him."

So it was Ruby then. Not too surprising seeing as she became the team leader of a team with pretty much HER name on it.

"He's not just two faced, he's more like four faced. He does whatever he wants to get the most interesting things happenning as possible. He doesn't care about anything but being entertained by the act of messing with people's lives. The fact that sometimes the people he messes with are better than he expected and their extraordinarity is what got him position as Headmaster."

It was at the end of that sentence when we arrived at our destination.

"Omigosh this is so cool! It's like a little mansion! And this is our Clan Hall?! This is like, the coolest, clubhouse, ever!" Nora gushed as she dashed back and forth across the small lawn and white picket fence of our new Clan Hall.

It was a large two story building, white with a red tile roof, a small red brick chimney also sprouted proudly from the top of the roofing, giving an almost nostalgically, romantic feel to it. Looking over the fence to the side, we could see a with a garden in the back, stocked full of both herbs and common vegetables half cultivated, and a few ready to harvest. A cherry tree also stood in the backyard, beginning to bud and preparing to bloom.

"Uh, not to break the good mood or anything, but did they give us a key?" Ruby asked as she tried the door. "It's not opening."

"Hmmm. This door uses an aura-lock." Weiss said, looking at the door handle.

She pulled it up revealing a little slot big enough for a finger.

"It's probably keyed to me knowing that coffee sipping clown." I grumbled as I made a feather with my aura before sticking it in the slot.

The door knob glowed, the light spreading to the rest of the door.

"All inhabitants, please place your hand on the door for Clan Hall Registration." the automatic voice intoned.

Doing so, the door let out a variety of chimes and tones before the glow of aura being sucked back into the doorknob, and the door opening for us.

The inside was well lit by artificial light from Dust crystals. The main entrance was furnished with some small artworks of moderate value, the floors were aged oak with a clean varnish, and led directly into the living space where a long table and comfy looking chairs were for both work and dinner use.

The kitchens were connected directly to the multi-use area with two large stoves and ovens, a sink and a Dust-powered dishwasher. There were plenty of cabinets and shelves which were moderately filled with edibles, and the refrigerator had been fully stocked with a month's supply of icy blue Dust to keep it cool. Although the refrigerator was largely empty, the freezer did have a small quart of ice cream in it, much to Nora and Yang's joy as they descended on the icy treat like hungry wolves.

The first floor was also where a variety of work areas and even a small firing range was situated, and we realized for the first time exactly how absolutely _useful_ a Clan Hall was.

Hell, most students don't even get a small kitchen in their dorms until their third year.

The second floor exploration is what caused the problem.

There were two large communal bathrooms and baths one for both genders. The problem?

"We're rooming as teams?!" Weiss cried out in shock.

"I don't see what the problem is." Nora and I both responded in tangent as the former was spinning her weapon on the top of her head, looking like the world's most deadly performing circus seal.

"It's a social boundaries thing." Ren told me and I nodded, trying to understand it.

"I mean sure, team RWBY in one room is one thing, they're large enough to house at least six people, but you can't have guys and girls in a room!" Ruby exclaimed flailing her arms over her head.

"I'm still not getting this, but I'm just going to nod." I said. "One day, I'll totally get this. Yeah."

"We aren't allowed to change the rooming situation. What then shall we do?" Pyrrah asked as she polished her shield.

We were all sitting at the long table in the main living area, both teams sitting on opposite sides of the table so we could all face each other.

"Ren and I are childhood friends so it's ok for us to be together. Well, not _together _together because that would just be awkward. Oh, not that you're not handsome, Ren. I mean, you certainly are _handsome_, but we are who we are. My point is that isn't it incredible that we'd be on the same team and then suddenly together in the same clan? Not _together_, but together?! Oh, this is going to be so much fun. It's like camp all over again!"

"Ahem… ok… Nora, have a cracker and sit still." I said, sliding the bowl of plain crackers we had poured out as a snack towards her.

"Ok!" she cheered as she chewed on the flaky baked grain snacks.

"Note to self: silencing with food works on Nora, not most people."

"Mmmph?" she looked at me with mild confusion and I waved her off.

"So…" I continued, "What do we do?"

"Hmm. We're probably being asked to room in teams so that the teams form bonds through constant close social contact." Blake mused as she snatched a cracker from the nibbling Nora.

"It's the gender issue!" Weiss and Ruby both turned to her with mildly angry looks.

"Hey, see, you two _can_ get along!"

Ruby sighed, "Jaune, it's because of you that we're having this conversation."

"And me?" Ren laughed with knowing eyes.

Hey, that's just how they looked like, I don't know why they did. These guys are always hiding things from me, it's unfair.

"You too, Ren, of course." Weiss nodded.

"If Ren's included, then why do I feel like victim all of a sudden?"

Yang snickered at my remark, fist banging on the table, head held low, her right arm holding her ribs.

"How about curtains?" Blake suddenly spoke up from her book, "We can just divvy their room in two and have a giant curtain in the middle. At the very least we can use that as a short term solution."

"Hmmm. We could just take down the giant curtain for the huge window overlooking the backyard gardens and just string it from the ceilings." I said, the window was wide enough to be three full wingspans for me, roughly sixteen to seventeen feet from fingertip to fingertip.

"Not the most ideal of solutions, but it's the only one we've got." Weiss agreed reluctantly. "Let's take care of this and then go to sleep. I don't know about the rest of you, but it's been a _long_ day for me."

We all agreed, laughing.

End

DEVIATION! BWAH HA HA! I'd like to keep these eight close together and I wanted to put my own twists to the RWBY universe, so here is the second step! First being Jaune's suddenly slightly more awesomeness, of course.

Once again, I will be taking the story my own way for the most part, but I will also twist new canon episodes to fit into my version of the RWBY world, which might also mean some characters might be totally different than canon initially, then become like canon, or stay un-canon. Be warned.

I'm just excited to start writing about their first day of school. I have interesting twists already bubbling in my head, bwah ha ha.


	5. First Day of School

AN: New Chapter time! I hope that my deviations will be just as entertaining as the original canon!

Begin

"I've been workin' on the rai~lroa~d. Every single day~" I sang, "I've been workin' on dem rail~roads~ just to pass the time away~"

I stacked bricks on bricks, layering them with cement, doing my best to remake a furnace design I once saw in one of the manuscripts of the Valentinian Order meant to gather Dust for empowering processes in the furnace to help strengthen the metal tempering and treating. If it didn't work, ah, well, I'd still have had fun building it.

"Can you hear the whistle shout~ing~ Way up early in the morn'~ Can you hear the captain shou~ting what's-her-face blow that horn~"

After a long hour's work I was done building the furnace. It was good that although we lacked an actual smithy, we had all the needed equipment for it in the small workshop we were given, such as tongs, an anvil, hammers of assorted sizes and weights, a midsized bellows, as well as a heat transferring, nonmelting elementless crystal variable mold that would adjust its shape to your projections of aura. Much more cost-efficient than buying over a full on gross, twelve dozen, of tools.

"That was fun. Now I can get to work on upgrading my guns and fixing my sword up to be hardier. Just because I like the classical long sword, doesn't mean I should neglect sword-care either." I nodded.

As I took some scrapwood to build a little blacksmithing shack of sorts, I heard a loud, ear-shocking whistle from the room of Team RWBY.

I wiped my hands on a leather apron before taking it off and hanging it on a peg I made inside the shed.

"The sun's only been up for an hour, it's seven AM, what the hell are they doing up there?"

I shrugged, drawing up some water from a small well that was also located in the backyard before taking off my shirt to wash my face and arms, pulling the normal morning ritual items from a small pouch in the utility belt that I finally got back from my luggage.

Turns out that it did get lost in transit at least once, and was dropped off by a tired looking academy hopeful that had failed the initial exam.

Poor guy.

After putting the candle, tooth salve, and toothbrush away into the utility belt, as one never knew when they needed to brush their teeth, I stretched before drying off with a small towel.

Then I heard a whistling.

Turning around and looking up, I saw Yang hanging out of the window of the RWBY room.

"Looking good down their hot stuff! Great view!"

"I'm not sure what you're referring to, but thanks!"

"Sis! Stop drooling and close the windows!"

"I do not drool! Come here!" Yan turned around to grab her sister's head with her fists, giving her a light noogie from both sides, a pitiful wailing coming from the smaller, younger girl.

I laughed before putting my shirt back on.

"They're certainly energetic this morning."

Once inside I slapped together some bread, cheese, and deli meats to make a light sandwich. After consuming my hand-held edible, I headed up into my own room.

The curtain was set up to fully hide the girl's side of the room, meaning that even if one of us guys suddenly barged in in a hurry, we technically shouldn't see the girls in case they were doing something important. Like changing, apparently, though I'm not really sure how high that really rates as being truly important.

But it must be a normal person thing.

I'm sure I'll pick it up sooner or later.

After taking my uniform with me into what we decided to be the men's restroom, I took a quick shower to make sure to get all the dust off me, using a lavender and rosemary soap, acorns as the soap base, as usual, and changed into my uniform before dropping off my clothes again.

From the sounds across the curtain it seemed that the girls had woken up and were changing themselves.

"Good morning. Anybody up over there?"

"Ah!" Pyrrah gasped seeming a bit surprised, "Yes, good morning, Jaune. I hope you slept soundly as well."

"Morning Jaun-Jaune~" Nora hummed before dashing through the curtain to jump onto Ren's bed.

"Morning, morning, morning! Gooooood morning Ren!"

"Just five more minutes, Nora."

"Class starts at nine, Ren. It's eight thirty. We should start leaving soon. You might really want to get up."

"Ugh, fine."

"Yay! Grouchy Ren's waking up!"

I laughed.

"You should change into your uniform as well, Nora. I'm going to check on the others."

I left the room before approaching the door to team RWBY's room.

"This isn't going to work." I heard Weiss speak up from the other side of the door.

"It is a bit cramped." Blake agreed, sounding a tad uncomfortable.

"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff." Yang followed.

Were they moving furniture around?

"Or we could replace the beds… and replace them with bunk beds!"

Hmmm. I have the strangest urge to mess with Ruby's flow.

I knocked on the door.

"Hey, it's Jaune. Just checking up on you because classes are starting in half an hour. Mind if I step in?"

"Ackpt!" - "Wait, don't open the door!" - "I don't want you to see our room like this!"

"Oh, I'm sure it can't be that bad." I replied, trying to sound reassuring, but trying to figure out who said what.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Ok, this voice is Ruby's for sure. "You can't you absolutely can't!"

"You could at least tell me why."

"That's on a need to know basis! And I should tell you, that you shouldn't ask too many questions about a lady's room." Weiss sounded pretty panicked for somebody trying to correct my behavior.

"Well class is in twenty five minutes now, so we should probably leave."

"WHAT?!"

The door flew open, catching me in the chin, my aura not reflecting the force fast enough to keep me from being knocked back.

"Ouch!" I grumbled as I looked up from the ground.

They were all dressed in the Beacon Academy uniform, a white cotton dress shirt with a thin ribbon bow-tie under a red plaid dress that acted like a corset with a skirt thrown in, and a blazer on top of it. Ruby still had her cloak-cape-hood and Blake had her mysterious bow on. Yang's mane was as wild as usual and Weiss still had her hair up in her customary side ponytail.

"My forehead is throbbing, but you four still look great." I chuckled as I rubbed the growing bump on my forehead as Ruby gave me a hand up. "Although I'm pretty sure your cloak is against school rules or something, Ruby."

"Hey, no dissing the cape! It serves a very powerful purpose!"

"Besides the rose petal Dust illusion and speed boost weaved into it?" I asked, making Ruby and Yang blink in shock.

"How did you know that?" the older blonde asked me.

I shrugged.

"You learn to pick up a few things after spending two years studying the various traits of aura and Dust and their everyday applications."

I peered into their room to see it now fully decorated, but the beds in a giant heap in the middle of the room.

"It looks like a tornado threw your beds around, but left the rest of your room intact."

"Stop looking at the things that don't matter, hot stuff, and let's get to class." Yang pushed me along as the door to my room opened revealing a very tired Ren as well as a fully dressed Pyrrah and Nora.

Hmm. Seeing Pyrrah's armor is very well suited for her, but seeing her in uniform is a surprisingly refreshing change.

"Ah! Is-is that so?" Pyrrah blushed as she fidgeted with her skirt.

"Did I say what I was thinking out loud again?"

Blake just shook her head.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're faking it." she laughed as Ruby angrily dragged me down the stairs.

We didn't have time for breakfast in fear that we wouldn't make it for our morning classes on time, but we went our separate ways as teams RWBY and JNPR both had different classes for the mornings.

Team RWBY had a Grimm Studies class while my Team JNPR had Aura and Dust: Understanding the Two Great Powers.

"Welcome class, do sit down." an elderly woman beckoned us to our seats in the first row.

Though we shared classes with the rest of the academy hopefuls who had not passed, we also had technical first years who had been accepted as teams in a previous winter or spring quarter, the ones that had initially not passed their initiation rites. Obviously, they all kept their eyes on us throughout the lesson. To them we were more enemy than obstacle due to our circumstances.

"I do hope that all of you at least know what aura is, dearies. I am Professor Poffins, the first year instructor for aura analysis and conceptualization, and it is my duty to teach the ones who lack a basic concept of aura how to grasp it, and those who struggle to make their aura their own embrace it."

She turned around in her beige cashmere sweater, writing on the board with chalk.

"Aura is the overflow of one's soul. As beings of Dust, we too, share its properties which manifests in our aura. Some of you are empowered by it in moments of extreme duress, or extreme anger, and so it tends to color certain aspects of your being. The most common is the eyes which both perceives light and the ultra-spectrum of light that aura emits. As a result when one fills their body with their aura, their eyes tend to change color."

"Oooh, ooh!" Nora waved her hands in the air excitedly, "Does the normal color of your eyes have anything to do with your aura then? I mean Ren's are pink and Ruby's are silver. Well Ren's eyes are more of an amythest. Or fushia. Or pink!"

The class laughed at her squealing and babbling.

Ren's head dropped onto the table.

"Nora, please be quiet." the dark haired boy sighed.

I patted him on the back as Pyrrah giggled next to me.

"That is an interesting scenario that you bring up, Ms Valkyrie. Powerful individual's eye colors can sometimes change in moments of extreme duress in accordance to the alignment of their aura. For example, red is fire and yellow is lightning. However it has been noticed that Dust of a fused color, such as orange, does not share traits with the primary colors that make up its structure, such as it being the element of acceleration and kinetic motion. While having a shared similarity, such is not always the case. Although color has much to do with the power of Dust and aura, it is not a definitive."

A hand rose in the crowd.

"How, then, do we know what affects different auras and Dust have?"

"A very good question, Mr Lark. Can anybody answer Mr Lark's question. Perhaps you, Mr D'Arc?"

Great more attention.

"Aura is the manifestation of one's soul. In that regard, without respects to color, the most skilled users of aura could get a completely opposite effect, such as gaining the fortitude of earth with a yellow aura, that of lightning. However, the effect ensuing would be much less than compared to someone with a natural viridian aura, that of earth. Dust is a bit different as different manufacturing processes can tone down certain attributes of a color's element, however unlike aura, it's base ability cannot be changed. Unlike us, who house aura, and are living beings capable of change, Dust, which has no life, cannot."

"Very good Mr D'Arc! Also, do note, class that Dust isn't found in more than seven colors: red, orange, green, silver, blue, yellow, and purple. However, with different processes, several different shades, clarities, and inherent glow can be drawn out, giving Dust it's many versatile abilities and uses. However, should those of you have the rare perfect violet aura, such as our own esteemed Glenda Goodwitch, holding the aura ability of manipulation, you will be pleased to find that with high quality Dust of any color, you will be able to draw out all of the different attributes to use as you see fit."

So our class was at least interesting. Although I personally didn't learn anything, my friends certainly did, considering that aura was only taught how to unlock in the regular combat schools and anybody that wanted to learn of it had to do individual research.

As such not too many people tended to look up such information, apparently.

Also since aura tended to dangerous, outside of institutions of higher learning, such as Beacon, books on aura and it's nature is highly restricted and coveted. Hence why Monasteries and orders dedicated on the study of aura tended to be so exclusive, Professor Poffins continued to explain, as aura and Dust was the light of the world.

"That class was so informative!" Pyrrah exclaimed happily as she stretched, left hand grabbing her right wrist and pulling her shoulder blades apart and her skirt fluttered. "I've only been able to read one book about aura and that was as a reward for by third victory in the Mistral tournaments."

"Really? I've never even seen one myself." Ren remarked as the four of us left the class to meet up with the RWBY crew for lunch. "They don't even have a recommended textbook for class because of Vale's law restrictions. I do worry a bit for studying for the classes tests."

"We can have Jaune-Jaune teach us!" Nora cried out happily as she jumped on Ren's shoulders with a happy pounce.

"Nora, you're wearing a skirt." Ren sighed as he almost fell at the initial surprise.

"I'm wearing spats so its ok! Wanna see?"

"No!" came the three way cry.

Mine came late though because I only really followed the other two.

"I'd be happy to help study for tests as well. I'm very interested in these 'study groups' that I've heard so much about. It sounds like a lot of fun, even though you have to do work." I smiled nodding.

We shared a laugh, but saw a unhappy white heiress of the Schnee Dust company stomp through the courtyard, a small black haired girl with a red hair tint and cape-hood following, both girls arguing angrily.

"I knew those two would have e another argument before long, but this is the first day of school? Isn't that a little early?"

"Whoop!" Nora cried as she bopped Ren's nose, then hopping off his shoulders, the skirt of her uniform exposing everything as she went over his head. She then ran forward crying "WEEEEEEEEISSSSSSSYYYYYY!" and dive tackling her into the grass.

"Did she just-" Pyrrah pointed at the orange haired girl.

"Yeah." Ren face palmed.

"Is that-" I continued.

"Yeah."

"What are you doing?!" Weiss angrily pushed Nora off her who had been trying to tickle her, apparently. "Get off of me! This is not proper school conduct. Or proper Huntress in training conduct for that matter!"

She brushed herself off angrily, shooing away Ruby who tried to help.

"Come on Weiss, what happened?"

"Ugh! It was terrible! Sure the class was dry, and the instructor appearing to be more than lacking in more than one aspect, but this… this girl had the call to not even try to take the class seriously! She fell asleep, made crude drawings that looked like a kindergartner could make of the instructor, calling him Professor Poop of all things, displaying absolutely no respect to the chain of command/instruction, and picked her nose in class! Then when I was facing a Boombatusk in class, she had the nerve to try and join the fight!"

"Hey, I was trying to help!" The younger girl huffed indignantly.

"I could have easily dodged that! Just because you've suddenly been made team leader, doesn't give you the right to interfere with my practical lessons!"

"Ok, this just sounds like a huge misunderstanding." I said putting hands on the two girls' shoulders. "Ruby. You shouldn't have interfered in the fight. That and… er… maybe pick pick your nose in less public places?"

"Wha-" She turned an adorable shade of red. "S-so… so now you're taking her side?!"

"I'm not taking anybody's side. Just pointing out you were both in the wrong. Weiss, if the class was as dry and lacking as you say, you can't fault Ruby for trying to find some enjoyment out of it. Besides, it's the first day. Of course things might be slow and boring. You have to be a mite less serious about everything. Relax, give yourself a pat on the back. You're in Beacon now."

"He's right you know." Blake walked up to us with Yang by her side who had her hands crossed behind her head. "Weiss needs to relax a bit and Ruby could stand to be a tad more serious."

"Blaaaaaake!" Ruby whined.

Yang ruffled her younger sister's hair, much to Ruby's objections.

"You're our leader, right, little sis? So you have to at least act the part from time to time, you know. So at least try to be serious, ok?"

Ruby grumbled.

"So a Boombatusk, right? Those stupid boar Grimm used to sneak to the village fields and chew up that bitter old man Mildew's cabbages. They're fun to fight. All they do is charge in one absolute direction and take forever to stop. Dodging's easy, but it's the collateral damage you have to worry about. One time this little guy, just maybe three feet high bust through Mildew's house as he was trying to break with his hooves. Just slid right through the stone walls. As far as I know, there are only two safe ways of dealing with them, either by flipping them on their backs and finishing them off, or stop them before they build up too much momentum in the first place. Sounds like the professor might have been a bit irresponsible."

Weiss and Ruby both looked sheepish all of a sudden.

"Hmm? What's the matter you two?"

"Well… Ruby cut off the Grimm's legs and it went out the second story wall like a battering ram and Weiss froze it in the air, but didn't anchor it to anything." Yang chuckled as both girls turned red and redder instantly. "The little piggy flew off the cliff and into the Emerald Forest."

"...Wow. That actually sounds like it would have been fun to watch."

"Oh it was." Blake agreed, smiling coyly at her white and red teammates.

"Yeah, Goodwitch saw the commotion and is giving Ol' Pork-chop Porp a tongue lashing as we speak for bringing a Grimm into a classroom. Not the first time, apparently, so she let us all out five minutes early." Yang smiled.

"Hey, hey, hot stuff." Yang cooed as she slung her arms around my neck, "The creepy old man winked at me, I feel all exposed now. Hold me?"

"YANG!" Ruby and Weiss pulled at the back of her collar simultaneously, the tall blonde pulling me for the ride as she toppled backwards, us all falling as a huge group.

I slammed my hands down palms first on the grass, my toes bent at a ninety degree angle so that I wouldn't accidently kneel into the girls' legs.

"Is everybody alright?" I asked, worriedly, Yang's arms were still snaked around my neck, "Nobody hit their head on a rock or anything, right?"

"...this isn't so bad."

"Did you say something Weiss?" I asked, hearing her incomprehensible mumble.

"Nothing! Now get off!"

"I donno, I'm kinda digging this." Yang grinned sultrily, looking at me with half lidded eyes.

"SIS!" Ruby pushed me off us, making me land on my back with a loud 'oof'.

I got up and brushed off my back.

"Geez, what am I going to do with you girls… Pyrrah is there any grass on my back?"

"Ah, some. Would you… would you like some help?"

"Sure!" I smiled as my redheaded teammate brushed me off with surprisingly gentle hands, picking and brushing at my black blazer with its bronze colored trimmings.

"The final boss has appeared." Ruby eyes were sparked with jealousy as Weisse and Yang nodded, Blake just laughed into her book.

I adjusted my red tie and blue vest as she helped me.

"But I have to say, these uniforms are surprisingly formal. I feel like I'm wearing a suit."

"Yeah, lucky it's not too warm today."

I nodded agreeing before I thanked Pyrrah, getting a smile back.

"Yeah, I tend to sweat easily too, so I hope that it stays cool for a bit. I'd hate to disrupt class by taking off excess clothing." I fiddled again with my tie before angrily pulling it loose and undoing the top buttons. "I hate this tie. I should shove it down Ozpin's throat and take care of two problems at once."

I blinked.

"What's with the attentive staring?" I asked the girls, even Blake glancing at me from her book.

"Nothing, nothing, I just thought that was kind of hot just now. Let's get lunch ok?"

"Sure, Yang. To lunch everybody!"

Lunch was a fairly simple affair with lots of joking and talking of classes. Although the RWBY girls were a bit jealous at the fact that we got the class for Aura and Dust studies that was part of the three class roulette for the first years on the first day. Team JNPR had Grimm Studies tomorrow while Team RWBY would be the first to taste the Battlefields Orientation class.

"I don't know. I'd personally rather be in Grimm Studies today, but that might be because the class is going to be review for me."

"Of course, Mr I-have-access-to-the-third-largest-library-in-the- world." Weiss chided as she ate a cherry tomato from her salad. "You could probably teach the class for upper years."

We all laughed.

I wondered if I should tell them that the Order made me take a test and that I actually was qualified to do so. But normally people can't do stuff like that, right? I should probably keep my thesis papers a secret too.

Although if Weiss kept in contact with her parents I might be getting chewed out by the girl before long. Oh dear.

"So what were you doing this morning in the backyard?" Yang asked, nibbling on a french fry, she had finished her bacon cheeseburger a span of two minutes and was now just snacking on the fried potato side dish.

"Making a Dust-infusion Forge. I based it off some blueprints that Felopus the Third made for it. It's how he got inducted into the Order forty years ago. It's still my own make though, I only used it for the theory. It's really only for fun though, but it should work just as well as any industrial version or better with all the runic sequences I carved into the bricks."

I slurped at the last dregs of my iced tea before taking another bite of a chicken tender.

"...All of you are staring at me again. Is this weird too?"

"No, in fact it's quite marvelous!" Pyrrah smiled at me. "Weapon maintenance will be so much easier!"

"Oh-ho, that's a Clan leader for ya. Thinking ahead, eh?" Yang laughed as she tossed a fry into the air and caught it in her mouth as she leaned back on her chair.

"You're telling me I have a forge that I can use to make parts for modifying and upgrading Crescent Rose?! Jaune, you're the best!" Rose threw her hands in the air excitedly before babbling about all the various things that she could do with a Dust-infusion Forge.

Weiss abandoned her salad to ask me all sorts of information about the forge itself and the runic sequences involved, looking very interested. I happily supplied the information, but it appeared that a lot of the information went straight over her head though. Then again, I didn't really think that Weistaein's Theory of Internal Dust Reactions in a Zero Sum environment was supposed to be explained in less than ten sentences.

The next class was a combat intensive meant for instructors to observe student's fighting styles help form team stratagems as well as well as for combat instructors to scope out potential apprentices. This one the Clan shared as a whole.

After digesting a bit, we all went to our respective gender's locker room's to change into our combat equipment and pick up our gear. I just really hope that our locker rooms don't end up becoming a disgusting pit of testosterone. I've read some books saying that guys locker rooms tend to get pretty nasty.

Ignoring the glares and stares from the other students, Ren and I quickly geared up and left, meeting the girls outside and leaving for our class at the West Fields together.

"Welcome, students, to your first class of Intermediate Combat Intensive. After this you are free to have self practice and training. Here at Beacon we guide and provide knowledge, we will teach you strategy, teamwork, and how to fight people, and more importantly, monsters. In this class you will get bruised and beaten, do not expect to be without a few broken bones before the quarter is up. We have skilled medics and healers on standby in the tents to my left. Should you suffer any injury equal to or greater than a broken bone, see them right away."

"Whoa, harsh." Ruby cringed next to me.

"You will be using your own weapons but as all firearms users should know, you will be using special Dust rounds meant to prevent fatalities. Still, know that your weapons are not tools and that even though only one person dies in training every five to ten years, it is still a possibility, and that you can still cause great harm should you fail to have precision. Should we suspect you of purposefully trying to give anyone a permanent injury, know that we will not only melt down your weapon for scrap metal, but you will be expelled. Permanently."

Goodwitch, who was the professor making the quarterly safety speech, looked over us as many who had custom weapons shivered in fear of the thought of accidentally harming someone now. The sisters especially seemed nervous, apparently although I knew that Ruby's Crescent Rose, her HCSS (High-Caliber Sniper Scythe) was personally forged, I learned after class that Yang's DRSGs (Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets) were also personally forged for her.

The rest of the instructors stood at a distance peering through binoculars and spyglasses, taking notes down on clipboards.

"You will each take a handful of the kinetic absorption Dust gel in the crates to my right and infuse it with your aura as you spread it over the entirety of you weapon. Rest assured that even with larger weapons, just a normal handful shall be enough. The gel will evaporate and expand around your weapon and yourself as a gaseous barrier. When a specific level of force is generated within certain potential areas of contact, the Dust will seize inertia, preventing fatal blows 99.9% of the time so don't hold yourselves back simply because you are afraid to harm your opponent or you shall never learn. However such attacks will turn the Dust mixture black before disappearing to note critical blows. Bullets of assorted sizes are also by the Dust formula, so empty your clips into a small bag we will provide for you and load them with the bullets provided."

Goodwitch coughed before continuing, her lime green eyes gazing over the students again.

"For those who use very specific rounds in addition to the standard fare, you must either file in a report at the ammunition acquisitions office for either the creation of a safer version of your rounds, or do it yourself and have it verified for safety. It is also suggested that you purchase or create new magazines specifically for this class. Now there's enough for everyone, so please form lines of three and get set up. After you have geared up properly, I will announce your sparring partners for the day. Normally, at least, for today you are sparring with your teammates and Clan members for those of you who formed up already. Afterwards, the instructors will choose eight students at random to have a small round robin tournament. This class will last until five thirty PM, meaning a four hour class. Thirty minutes to gear up, three hours of sparring and instruction, and thirty minutes of observing eight of your peers in combat. Now line up!"

Ozpin… what have you gotten me into now?...

I sighed and quickly got into line. I emptied my clips and refilled them with the Academy approved Dust rounds and then coated all my weapons with the Dust formula provided.

It was a curious mixture and one that I was eager to figure out how to replicate.

It certainly appeared useful.

As people started pairing up for the first sets of spars it was Yang that got to me first.

"Hey, hot stuff. I guess that you get to go on the big boy ride first!" she grinned as she deployed her Ember Cecelia cracked her neck.

End

And to keep this interesting, not all of the eight will be from the Clan, which I still have to decide on a name for. Any suggestions? Review it to me or PM me about it.

Also I was going to make some junk OCs for the round robin, so you guys can make suggestions for that too. I may bring OCs back in for future encounters or I may not, but hey, somebody might get lucky.

Please Review!

KSLCross


	6. When Fellow Blonds Fight

AN: Try listening to the "From Shadows" soundtrack as you read the fight between Yang and Jaune. I think it's just awesome. Or if you read slowly, try "I Burn" although I'm not sure if it's long enough for that.

Oh and if you haven't realized, this is my solo practice for RWBYverse fights without video reference, mind leaving a review or PM telling me how it feels? I just watched the livestream recording of the RWBY panel for that extra feel, man.

And although aura is used for 'magic' (the guys at Rooster Teeth don't like calling it that, but some of the things are remarkably like spells, but that's been more of Weiss' Dust from her epic rapier of pure _awesomeness_), isn't it also remarkably like ki or chi? Energy from within? I can think of History's Strongest Disciple crossover omakes as we speak lololol. Not DBZ though, because as awesome as that would be, they'd break the RWBYverse.

Props to anybody that has an idea of where I pulled Gregor from.

Begin

Ah… the sky is so blue today.

The clouds are so fluffy and look like pure white cotton candy, the wind is nice, the breeze is cool, and the sun is shining cheerfully.

So I thought as Yang's well tone's leg whizzed by inches from my face.

I bent back further, letting myself fall back. Using my wrists to pop back up by using a little aura and tried to strike with a full body kick, only for the hot headed blonde to grab my right ankle and try to throw me.

I twisted in her grip half way through her swing, the edges of my armored boots making it impossible to hold on without incredible pain as I spun around with a roundhouse kick aimed for her face.

Yang's other hand pummeled into my foot, Ember Ceclia spitting out a 12 gauge Dust slug into my foot, denting the aura enforced metal plating and blasting it back, sending me flying as she let go. I righted myself in the air and lashed out with my left leg, firing a hidden throwing knife at her. The spring-loaded Dust powered knife flew as a blur and Yang twisted out of the way,the knife grazing her right arm, just above the yellow shot gauntlet.

"Now this is fun!" Yang crowed as she launched Dust slugs like screaming fireworks in quick succession.

I deployed my shield, not yet drawing the sword, empowering it with aura, the white of the shield-sheath hummed to life as I blocked the slugs in slants, deflecting them rather than taking a full on explosive Dust slug.

I rushed her, swinging the shield with my left arm outward, forcing Yang to lean back and counter with a left hook. I retracted the shield, flicking the sheath around and blasting the sword outwards with an aura powered thumb draw, the pommel of my long sword meeting the yellow gauntlet and spinning in the air as Yang's arm was forced back.

I swept my leg in a low kick, trying to make her lose balance, she jumped before kicking my sword at me. The point of the tempered steel flew straight at my head and I caught it by creating my helmet in pieces and letting the solidified aura clamp down around it like white metal teeth. Keeping it in just the mask of the helmet to conserve my aura, I swung my head around, the hilt digging into the dirt of the sparring field, kicking up clods of soil into the air as I used it as a hammer.

Yang blocked using her right gauntlet, holding it in place with her left arm. She let the attack carry her to gain ground, but I redeployed my shield and flung it at her like a giant shuriken. She leant backwarkward, my family's emblem just kissing her nose as it nipped by. Her fists lashed out as she let the backwards momentum flip her on her feet again as she fired two slugs with a one-two jab and I spun in place, smacking the Dust slugs out of the air with my aura wings and drew my hunting knives only to find that Yang had launched herself forward by timing a double backshot with the instant my wing made contact with the first shots to hide the sound.

Bringing up the mecha-shift knife-guns in a reverse grip, I parried three jabs before failing to block a low kick to my left leg, straining my knee. I winced and she used that instance to strike with an uppercut elbow, which she further strengthened by firing with her Ember Cecilia and spinning a full 360 degrees.

I managed to fortify my chin with quickly with both normal aura and summoned pieces of armor, but she broke through the latter like a sledgehammer, even knocking my mask askew.

The outside of my left knee had a small grey cloud of Dust particles floating around it revealing just how powerful her kicks could be.

I righted myself in the air by a pulse of orange aura from my hunting knives and my wings unfurled as they shifted into their large pistol forms. I quickly fired three shots in succession, from them, launching myself further into the air.

The first and last shots were a bit off and missed due to the great distance I was launched up, but the second shot was met with a Dust slug from Yang, who not knowing just how large my pistol rounds were, hadn't even thought about moving out of the way.

The .50 BMG Dust bullet streaked past her gauntlet, leaving a rivet in the top of the yellow metal before it tore past, the Dust particles turning black in a streak down her arm, though the bullet hadn't made contact as the collision with the gauntlet had turned her arm aside, the Dust mixture and aura reacted to the potential danger as the solid black cloud stopped the Dust bullet in mid air around her shoulder.

Noticing this, Yang quickly rolled away and grabbed my shield on the ground, using it to deflect and block the rest of my bullets.

"That thing's a little crazy for practice, ain't it hot stuff?"

I reloaded with the 20mm Dust rounds, switching to automatic fire before mecha-shifting both of them into hunting knives. I put one away in its sheath before taking hold of my sword in my right hand, keeping one of the hunting knives in my left.

"You'd be more pissed after if you found that I held back, wouldn't you?" I asked from the air as I rolled my wrist, the longsword making a circle in empty space.

I dive bombed towards her as she smirked, flinging the shield-sheath at me. I stabbed forward with the sword, sheathing the blade, the shield's auto mechanism retracting the shield. I hooked the sheath back into my belt as I fired an electric Dust spell from my hunting knife.

The pugilist of team RWBY slammed her gauntlets together to deflect my Dust spell with a powerful fire element aura. Then she cartwheeled as I drew my sword slashing air.

Using my wings as a feathery shield and blocking four slugs scattering wispy aura into the air, I pulled a trick from the Nevermore as I flung white aura feathers like little blades at her.

Yang ducked and weaved, her hands darted about deflecting feathers with an excited smile before launching herself left and right using the Ember Cecilia before zig-zagging at me, my knife-gun mecha-shifting to fire dozens of rounds into the air, hitting nothing.

I slashed at Yang when she got near, but she caught the sword between the backsides of her gauntlets, twisting the blade out of my hands before performing a mid-air aerial, kicking the butt of my knife-pistol out of my hand.

At that point I made a valiant effort to fight back by summoning armor over my gauntlets to further protect them as I countered back and forth hand-to-hand, but I had already walked into Yang's area of expertise and I was quickly shut down with a cross-counter and another one of her spinning elbow uppercuts.

I landed on my back in a pile of dirt next to my sword that had been embedded into the ground.

"Ugggghh."

Yang whooped as she jumped up and down before coming to where I lay in pain, she panted as she used my sword as a cane, leaning over me with glee.

"Thank you for riding Yang Mountain, you can have your ass back now. How was the big boy ride?"

"Painful... Undoubtedly painful… I need some hand-to-hand training..."

She giggled and nodded as she pulled me up.

"You were doing really well until I got in _really_ close though. Not bad."

"Wipe that smirk off your face," I bantered back, "I've only learned how to fight starting two years ago. Aside from that I've only ever used a bow or just pure aura-induced strength."

The wild-haired blonde laughed, still catching her breath as she gave me a friendly shoulder cuff.

"Well, not bad for a noob then. I've seen you use that aura-bow thingy in the Emerald forest. That thing looks boss."

"Thanks, it's still being refined. I can't even get it to fire straight half the time at the moment. I got lucky in the forest and I'm glad I did." I smiled at her as I put my weapons away and we waited to be evaluated.

We turned to see Ruby and Weiss having a grand blow-out of Dust spells of all varieties and sniper fire, the Crescent Rose cutting down icy projectiles out of the sky and dashing to and fro as spinning whirlwind of red and black death.

"Somehow that illusion of rose petals really makes it look like she's teleporting sometimes. I could tell that the illusion was there from the moment I met her, but how does she do it exactly?" I mused as Ruby flickered away from a blazing rapier thrust.

Yang shrugged.

"Beats me. She was always lighter on her feet than me, the little sprite." Yang chuckled good naturedly.

"Well, I'm glad the two of you are getting along well. Some of the instructors worried that you two had a bit of a blood feud against each other after Mr D'Arc fired at you. .50 BGM Dust rounds for a pistol, well I never. And it's fitted to work with 20mm bullets as well at an automatic rate of fire? Frightening, but not surprising." Goodwitch walked up to us, eyes not lifting from her clipboard.

"This is because of Oz, isn't it?..."

"Professor or Headmaster Ozpin to you, Mr D'Arc." then she actually gave us a bit of a tired smile, "And I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to discuss that."

The message was clear to both Yang and me.

Ozpin was a jackass.

"Although I do believe you two were waiting for your sparring evaluation, rather than searching for potential blackmail on your school headmaster. I expected it to last longer, but I suppose it can't be helped with Mr D'Arc's lack of formal training. Although you have a very good head and keen eyes for theoretics, you lack experience, which the rest of both your team and Clan have in droves. I suggest either you spar as daily as you possibly can and/or take some tips on close-quarters-combat from Ms Xiao Long here."

Goodwitch flipped a sheet on the clipboard before continuing.

"Although not specifically exemplary, your swordsmanship has few wasted movements and your lack of combat experience and formal training appears to have made your attacks, blocking, and dodging extremely unpredictable, which, I should remind you, is only effective because of your understanding of physics and Dust to Aura interactions. While your fighting method is certainly more suited to fighting monsters, against humans with a high level of formal training, like your partner, you will be at a severe disadvantage should your little surprises fail to throw them off, as you first-hand felt today."

I scratched my head sheepishly.

"Overall grade in consideration to your spar just now, and tangent with your performance in the forest and noting your incredibly versatile aura control and power, your student rank is that of an B. Very good for a first year student and fairly uncommon. Congratulations."

Yang gave me a high five before standing at attention.

"Ms Xiao Long. Older, adoptive sister of one Ruby Rose and a shot gauntlet user. A dual range custom model, we assume."

"Yes, Ms Goodwitch."

"Your hand-to-hand certainly is incredible. Likely on a pure martial arts point of view you rank within the school's top ten already. However, you tend to make lots of flashy and unnecessary movements. While you do get a bit lost in your showmanship, you haven't forgotten the truly important part of combat. Your form is excellent and you have very good control of your aura."

Yang beamed.

"However, with regards to your performance in the forest, we noted how you lost control of your temper when an Ursa managed to cut off what looked like two inches of hair from a single strand. That is what cannot be tolerated. Either manage your temper, or manage your hair, that is the current majority remark."

Yang winced at the harsh words and brushed her hair forward, hugging it protectively.

"However, should you find yourself able to harness that same amount of aura that you output when you get serious in a fight, they won't be able to make such judgements in the future. So with that in mind we have graded you as an A rank - tentative, I will remind you." Goodwitch looked up to see Yang's mildly shocked face. "Just a thought. From one blonde to another. Go to the medical tents, get checked up, and come back. Mr D'Arc can teach anyone at Beacon a thing or two about aura manipulation and control, which you need, Ms Xiao Long. In return giving some tips in CQC is the least you can do, yes?"

"Yes ma'am!" the two of us saluted as the eldest of us blondes walked away to talk to Nora and Pyrrah who had really demolished their portion of the training field. It appeared that Pyrrah had been victorious, though the large bruising on her left shoulder and collarbone was a good indication that she had not walked away unscathed.

We walked over to the medical tents to make sure everything was alright with our bodies to find out one of Yang's elbows had jostled a tooth loose and left a hairline fracture in one of the small bones in my left knee.

I had to marvel at the skill of some of the medics. Dust was a fickle material to harness, the inherent energy could do and wished to do a many number of things, which is why the Schnee Dust company, which had the knowledge to process Dust in over a hundred ways was so prominent in the business world. Yet with middling quality Dust, they performed exemplary work, fixing me up in a matter of minutes and Yang's light burn from the friction the BGM Dust round left in the air and a shoulder tendon she had lightly pulled from blocking such rounds with my shield in a total of thirty seconds.

Yang really managed to clean up my stance and form, although it was still only helping the basics. It didn't even take her a minute to knock me to the ground when we went only hand to hand, something that she seemed to take extreme pleasure in as she would keep leaning over me with a self-satisfied grin on her face like the cat that ate the canary.

After an hour and twenty minutes of having the living daylights beaten out of me, I helped Yang through breathing exercises to help calm one's aura. Yang to extent was aptly named. Her aura was very bright, full of passion, activity, and impulse. Herself being a female might have been the entirety small amount of yin she had, if you followed Toaistism's Eleven Verses on the integrity of the soul.

But I digress.

So I asked her, after feeling into her aura with mine, which gave me some strange and conflicting feelings judging from the sudden heaviness of breathing and trembling at my fingertips as she sat in a lotus position, my hands embracing her cheeks and ears, whether she wished to pull that to its entirety and be on constant point or learn how to embrace the yin inside to bring stability. I told her that the latter would bring more control and once she figured it out her aura would quickly gain potency.

The former would be much less controllable outside of specific situations of ultimate clarity of inner self and so the power fluctuation would be drastic, although the average should still be considerable.

"The first sounds way better! That clarity of self stuff will happen sometime soon, or maybe you can help me find my _inner clarity_? He he~"

A sniper shot whizzed by my ear.

"Sorry! That was an accident!"

Don't say that without looking or sounding apologetic!

"Well, I can tell you that I've been looking for my clarity of self for close to two years now and I haven't made nearly as much progress as I would like to. It's a state of being more than at ease with yourself and with the world. You become your true self, knowing both consciously and subconsciously the manner and and state of your soul through all the stages of life that it's gone across."

I cupped my hands and focused, my white aura swirling in a shining vortex of light before seeming to vibrate, shaping itself into a delicate dragonfly. Opening them, I let it flutter off, getting a whistle of appreciation from Yang.

"You see that? That was a manifestation of my childhood. The earliest years. Dragonflies used to nest in the ponds west of the village and every year they would soar through the skies with blinding colors and they made the trees sing." I smiled in nostalgia. "It was the most romantic thing that I had ever encountered. That's the very earliest memory that I can remember. Clarity of self is like that. Knowing how and why things affect you, what you've become as a result, and how it shapes your future. It sounds simple, but it's very difficult. For aura, clarity of self is taking your entire life and grasping it in such a state all at once. I can only manage for maybe four, five years worth at a time, but I do it intrinsically. It's part of my theory as to why I can do what I do."

"Huh. That's poetic. And sounds like a lot of work."

I laughed.

"Yes, but you're very impulsive and true to yourself. Your eyes being dyed by the color of your aura in a heightened emotional state is a good sign of that. You grasp yourself in your entirety for brief moments, but it's also unstable. You often lose control over yourself and forget to think, don't you? Like your body moves and your mind perceives what happened afterwards?"

Yang blinked.

"You… how'd you know that?"

"I... managed that state the day my village burned. But for me, my soul cried further in anguish. That was the only time in my life my aura turned black. That's how it was for me and my studies at the Valentinian Order only solidified my suspicions. It's an uncommon event, but the experience rarely differs."

"...Sorry."

"Hmm? What for?"

"Ah… heh… nothing, hot stuff. So explain this meditation to me again."

I spent twenty minutes on meditation and how to draw out and expend excess aura into the atmosphere to lower one's aura levels, which led to better control. Then the twenty minutes after that we realized that Yang did better at focusing her aura when moving about, so it led to me being kicked around all over the place again.

But because Yang was trying to keep her breathing calm and head clear, it was much less intense than before. She didn't go all 'buck wild' on me beating the crap out of my face at every opportunity, but her every blow was definitely much more powerful and swift.

When we were all called around to stop sparring I pointed out to Yang all the moments where she really dug deep and grasped control of her aura, and although she took it too heart, she did laugh it off to an extent, saying that there was a lot of it that she still didn't understand.

We met up with the rest of the Clan and the first thing that Yang did was pull her sister into a bear hug, making Ruby struggle for breath as her face was shoved into her older sister's cleavage.

"Hey little sis! How was sparring with the ice princess, eh?"

"It was fun! Although it was kind of annoying how much different kinds of Dust spells she could cast though." Ruby grumbled. "I was sure I had her until her Dust casting suddenly locked me in place and I couldn't move."

"It's called strategy." Weiss tossed her hair over her shoulder with the back of her hand. "You could use some of it."

Ruby flicked a piece of grass at the heiress and the two began bickering again.

"How did your student ranking go?" I asked the small red reaper as I picked her up by the back of her cloak as she glared at me from the side.

"I could have gotten an A, but I only got a B because apparently I'm too reliant on my weapon. I don't care what people say about me, but to badmouth my sweet and lovely Crescent Rose? That's unforgivable." Ruby heatedly glared at Goodwitch who was talking with the odd twenty seven other combat instructors about student results.

"Ugh. Don't get me started on that. She called my darling Myrtenaster a fancy spinning crutch and told me to brush up on aura skills more. The nerve. Everybody knows Dust provides much more clear and exact reactions. I'm not putting my life on the line with something that can't always stay constant."

We all sweat dropped.

"Aura is a critical skill to know though." Pyrrah approached us, the bruise on her shoulder reduced to a mild skin discoloration. "Although Dust is important as well, and though I do believe personal choice should be respected, Dust has limits to what it can do. Aura's versatility is what makes it the most powerful weapon of all. Our light in the darkness so to speak."

"That doesn't give her the excuse of giving me a B! I'm clearly A material."

"Calm down you two. It's rare for first years to be B Ranks in the first place." I waved my hands doing my best to calm the girls down.

"Easy for you to say, I'm sure they gave you an A." Ruby mumbled, kicking at the dirt.

"No, but they did for your sister."

"Whoa! Yang got an A Rank! You're amazing!" Nora leapt into Yang's arms, the tall blonde catching her and laughing as he swung her around. "WHEEEEE~"

"No need to encourage her." Ren sweatdropped as he met with us, Blake following in a quiet manner. "B Rank is still really good though, I agree."

"I know, I'm awesome." She grinned as she let Nora down, who then latched onto her green garbed childhood friend.

"It's tentative though~ It depends on whether she learns from my aura lessons or not."

Yang reddened as the others gave her a look of 'Oh, really now?' and pulled me in a headlock, forcing a hand over my mouth.

"You don't need to tell them things like that, idiot!"

"Pyrrah got A Rank too!" the hyperactive Dust-nade slinging, hammer swinging Nora giggled as she slung her Magnhild across her shoulders. "I'm a B too, but I almost got a C though cuz Goodwitch was all, 'You need to be more focused' and 'Talent only goes so far' but thinking gets boring."

It's really hard to get mad at her when she makes that stupid puppy face.

I looked at the others who had a similar look on their faces of I can't decide whether to strangle or squeal.

"I got a C Rank." Ren bashfully admitted, "Blake's VBCS (Variable Ballistic Chain Scythe) is too hard for me to predict. I got a few good aura blocks, but she really thrashed me."

"You should have seen some of the injuries I've had just trying to learn how to use Gambol Shroud." a brief and minute shudder ran through the mysterious girl, "It wasn't easy."

Turns out Blake got a B Rank on principle just because the instructors couldn't determine her actual level of skill, but her fighting style was probably the most unpredictable out of all of us. Best suited for fighting one on one or one on many for foes of the same size, her abilities at a school like Beacon could automatically classify her as a mid-level boss. Id personally classify her as an A Rank myself, but I digress.

Never mess with unpredictability.

Which kind of gave me the same kind of classification as her had it not been for my inexperience.

Besides, I pointed out. We were only ranked so that they have an idea of how to categorize our strengths, not actually limit us in them.

"Thank you all for your patience." Goodwitch finally had turned away from the other teachers, her clipboard filled with more sheets of paper than it was good for. "Now it is time for me to announce the members for the round robin."

There was a collective cheer with a mix of nervous and excited conversations. Until next month when the Intermediate Combat Intensive class had solidified into specific students under specific instructors, it was just every first year team under showing off their abilities and skills, hoping to catch the eye of a good instructor.

"The matches will be the following: Jack Bean against Sovenar Kastil. Nora Valkyrie against Sienna Windshear. Lucian Umbra against Blake Belladonna. Gregor Pietror against Lie Ren. The winners will face another student of our choosing from the lot, and the final two will spar for victory. The winning prize is a free dinner buffet in the dining halls for a team or Clan."

"FOOD! I'll win for the food!" Nora jumped up excitedly, mouth already watering.

Ren suddenly looked extra tired.

"Not looking forward to possibly fighting with Nora?"

The amethyst eyed Ren smiled at me, rubbing at his crest, a small lotus on the inside of his sleeves where he somehow kept his bladed automatic pistols.

"Something like that."

All I could do was offer him a good luck.

First up was Nora.

Well, to be fair, her opponent, one Sienna Windshear was there as well, with a pair of long, jagged knives, but judging from her stance and her aura levels she didn't hold a candle to Nora's sheer energy, talent, and power.

Her knives had Dust charges stored away in the hilt and she had cast some compact fireballs the size of grapefruits at Nora, only for the giggling girl to utterly blow them away with one hammer strike to the ground, pink plasma discharging from the Dust-nades in Magnhild's head and launching her in the air.

Another fire from it accelerated the force of gravity and Nora stopped the fearsome weapon just a mere half-inch from her poor opponent's face.

It was so fast that it was painful to watch.

Nora gave us a victory pose, a peace sign flying in the air as the other students clapped, whispering both in awe and fear of the pure domination.

Sienna was supposed to have been C Rank, but she had been on the fence. Apparently she had been put back into D Rank after her match.

The next match was against two people that we did not know. Jack Bean was a skinny, gangly character with nondescript brown hair and eyes, who carried a single sided war axe with a chainsaw system built into it. His dull green and brown leather outfit was well worn and the few tears showed that he had been in his fair share of scraps before.

His opponent was not nearly as plain looking.

Six foot five and the shoulders of a minor deity, Sovenar Kastil was the tallest person I had ever seen in my life. And the biggest as well. He had neatly cut red hair, combed down and was wearing a white leather and metal plate armor with one excessively large pauldron, and though clean, it had many creases and scratches, all of the Grimm nature. He looked like an upperclassman, largely due to the fact that after failing his first entrance exam once, he took a year off traveling before trying again. He had been put on a team with his older brother who had lost a teammate during the year he was travelling.

Apparently he had taken a test separate from the initiation exam as a result.

The strange thing?

His weapons were a pair of short staffs with a Dust system installed in each, the two cylindrical weapons connected by a metal chain like a pair of oversized nunchucks.

The Jack character had struck first, his chain-axe growling with steel teeth.

Sovenar backstepped, jabbing the smaller student in the throat with a left-handed thrust and snapping the metal axe handle by flicking one of the staffs around it, making a loop with the chain and pulling the staffs apart, the axehandle shredding under enormous pressure. Sovenar hadn't used his aura.

"...Holy… Now _that_ is a really _big_ boy." Yang joked weakly.

Our Clan suddenly had a bit of a drop in confidence.

"I didn't sense any Dust use…" Weiss stared, dumbfounded at what just happned.

"...No aura either." I stared at the ridiculous herculean stature of Sovenar. "That's beyond crazy. I bet he could fold sheet metal with his fingers."

The giant redhead seemed to shy at all the attention as he quickly and quietly sat down to the side, hugging his knees. A gentle giant, perhaps?

Or perhaps he was unable to call for aura on an external level? People who trained vigorously in such a state were known to occasionally develop physical strength beyond that of normal humans by using their latent aura to empower the musculature development of their bodies.

Ren was called up to face an older man. Beacon's required acceptance age was usually seventeen, hence most first year applicants were seventeen. Gregor Pietror was a twenty two year old individual with a scarred face. Although he was smiling, he looked rather fearsome.

"Gregor happy to meet you. Very inspired by actions in forest. Gregor vas accepted vor Vinter quarter last year, and hopes to both learn vrom and teach you." The man smiled, his shortly cropped red hair bristling in the wind as he offered a hand to Ren. "May ze best man vin, yes?"

Ren nodded and smiled, shaking his hand.

Gregor laughed as he drew a leaf shaped sword from his back. Judging from its design it was obvious that it was a mecha-shift weapon of some kind that we did not recognize. Ren took the cautious approach, not yet drawing his weapons, but readying his aura, hands glowing lightly as he took a stance.

I don't know about the others, but I was surprised to find Ren being the one to attack first, his hands aglow with aura. Gregor spun to avoid an upward palm thrust that would have shattered his nose as he swung his sword only for Ren to catch it with a forcefield with his other hand before spinning towards the older man and striking with his palm, a wave of aura blasting through Gregor.

The leaf shaped blade mecha-shifted into an axe, the bladed edges of the sword rearranging themselves to form a double headed axe that Gregor threw like a boomerang as he fell back.

Ren took a half side-step, dodging the flying bladed weapon. Performing a spinning heel kick, my sole male teammate saw the sword axe change direction and fly back to Gregor who caught it as Ren ducked, the redhead took the opportunity to drop kick the Eastern ethnic teen in the face.

He didn't expect an aura barrier to block his foot and twin emerald green pistols to fly out of Ren's sleeves, opening fire in a bursts viridian green Dust round fire. Through Gregor blocked the majority of the bullets, he couldn't stop the first few, leaving black speckles over his torso where the Dust solution had prevented an actual injury.

Though Gregor grinned happily and tried to continue fighting, he was stopped by Goodwitch who pointed out that in a real battle he would have already lost with the dual gunner's tactical move.

It was an interesting sight to see such a frightening looking man pout.

"Gregor not too happy vith short battle." the young man mused, the scarred face twisting with disappointment, but he smiled at Ren. "But zat vas very good move. Vit vas very sneaky! Gregor like!"

Nora smiled and cheered.

"Thats my Ren!" then she blushed, waving her hands in front of her face. "Well not _my_ Ren, but my best friend and childhood friend Ren. Because we're friends together, not _together_ together and…"

We laughed as she blushed, hands to her cheek before quickly being distracted by a butterfly that landed on her nose.

Goodwitch raised a single, elegantly shaped brow before calling up Lucian Umbra and Blake to for the last of the first set of matches.

Lucian Umbra was a quiet kid in a grey hoodie and a black scarf that covered the lower half of his face, the ends trailing behind him, fluttering in the breeze. He had the hood pulled over his head so all you could see was tufts of black and blond hairs. Over the hoodie he had what seemed to be a Dust-enforced ceramic alloy vest, and had a multiple pouches on his belt. His cargo pants were a bit ragged and one of the pockets had totally had the stitching fall out, but it appeared that none of them were actually in use for anything.

He adjusted the laces of his grey boots as he slung what appeared to be a single solid wooden pole of some sort across his shoulder, pulling the straps under his vest and locking it in place diagonally over his right shoulder.

Blake stood opposite him, her hand on the hilt of her Gambol Shroud eyeing him with cool silence.

The moment Goodwitch started the match, Blake dashed forward, the bladed sheath of her Gambol Shroud slashing down with a vicious grey glint, whistling through the air.

Lucian's jade eyes flashed as he knee slid under the blade before spinning around drawing a sword out over his right shoulder, a black tinted metal blade, single sided, straight edge, blocked Blake's reverse stab. The blade appeared to have blood grooves in parallel lines down the blade, giving it a segmented look.

Lucian's left hand lashed out with solid grey throwing stars, shuriken, if what Ren muttered meant anything and Blake's arm flashed as she drew the inner blade of Gambol Shroud, striking the projectiles in midair.

Upon their destruction they burst into dark smoke and Lucian jumped back, swinging his short sword. Turns out that the blood grooves were actually marks for blade segments as the sword lengthened, attached by metal wires, the hilt producing a 'zip' sound as the sword-whip lashed into the smoke.

Blake's Gambol Shroud flung out, spinning as Lucian reached with his left arm to the bottom of his sheath, somehow pulling out another blade of the same make. He deflected it up and barely drew back fast enough as Gambol Shroud spit out another bullet in mid-air, grazing his scarf and hood, cutting into his cheek before firing again. The VBCS spun in the air in a full and lightning-fast circle around Blake's location, somehow catching in the wires of the sword in Lucian's right hand, tearing it from his grip as it propelled itself with another aura bullet fire as it whizzed back into the obscuring cloud of smoke, the sword in its extended form clanking uselessly to the ground as an inbuilt auto mechanism drew the segments of the blade together, taunting him.

Blake had disarmed him with zero visibility.

Fluke or not, that was a terribly morale-shattering action.

Bravely the silent teen dashed forward with more throwing stars in his right hand, peppering into the cloud to be met with the sounds of metal against metal and a bigger cloud of smoke.

Before he could reach his other weapon, Blake flew out of the cloud, eyes closed, kicking Lucian in the face, laying him flat on his back before her eyes opened with an amber flash. Her weapon fired out of her hand, digging into the ground next to his ear, cutting the side of his hood.

Smirking with mirth she pulled her weapon back as she walked away to our group to be met by Nora's mile a minute chattering and Yang slinging her arm across her partner's shoulder, laughing as she complemented her.

Lucian Umbrian stood up slowly staring with wide eyes before he nodded at Blake and bowing before he walked away back to his team.

Blake gave him a small nod of acceptance.

End

How was that for badass?

Tell me how it all feels, I feel like I'm getting no love here. More reviews to tell me how it feels and how it can be improved please?

I worry about the quality of this work, people.

Shoutout to SG Hero for the idea behind Lucian Umbrian, the only OC suggestion I got. Hope you liked the little twist I made, although he didn't last too long against Blake. I prolly should have pitted him against Ren for a more interesting battle, but two silent characters fighting to the death was more dramatic.

That and it's Blake motherfucking Belladonna. She will slay you like nobody's business.

Epicness.


	7. Proclamation! We Will Reach the Sky!

AN: Please note that with the clan name, I didn't mean to rip off any trademarked franchises. I thought about it and after I finished writing I realized why it seemed so familiar. If you recognize it, good for you. Cyber cookies for you, just make sure to grab them before Ruby nabs them. Because I own nothing but my own imagination, of course.

Also there's a pokemon reference. Try to spot it, maybe? Lol

Sorry that this chappies a bit shorter than the last few, by the by. I'm just setting up for something grand... I hope...

OH! And CYBER-COOKIES FOR Catoust! You got my Gregor inspiration on the nose my friend! Here's a ticket for any sort of reference you'd like to see or an OC or Story Event! Go wild!

Begin

I winced as Ren few thirty feet back into the air, skipping on the ground like a flat stone on water, even crashing into some of the unfortunate students who could not move out of the way in time.

Ren shakily got up as Sovenar looked extremely apologetic.

"I'm fine!" Ren called out, getting up shakily.

He had thrown up multiple aura force fields knowing of the titanic student's strength but one half-hearted swing had absolutely obliterated through them like a Dust bullet through glass window panes. Lucky for him the forcefield shattering caused a kinetic wave to push him back, minimizing the point of contact as well as contact time, leaving only a grey haze where his right ribs were.

But it was obvious that the blow had cracked a few ribs at least.

Sovenar turned to Goodwitch with a worried look, not saying a word, but sheer nervousness on his face. He really didn't want to fight people it seemed, though his serious power meant that he had indeed trained vigorously to fight the Grimm.

Ren dashed forwards using his aura to triple his natural speed as he fired relentlessly at Sovenar, only for the redheaded student to spin his chain staff to create a vortex of steel and Dust, blocking bullets and deflecting them everywhere, throwing up huge clouds of regular dust into the air.

My male teammate dashed in circles around Sovenar, switching from clockwise to counterclockwise at the drop of a hat, yet barely losing speed as he did so, making me worry about his body's state. Using aura in such an explosive manner is risky at best, but Ren kept it's flow steady, even in such an extreme usage.

It was unlike the calm boy to fight in such a manner.

"Hooo~ I think your boyfriend's trying to show off for you, Nora~" Yang giggled as she hugged our hyperactive clanmate from behind, blowing into her ear. "If I didn't find somebody more interesting I might have tried for the Ren Route, you know."

"Wha-what are you talking about?!" Nora fidgeted, trying to get away. "We're not- hya!"

Did Yang just bite her ear?

Ruby started poking at Nora's sides, making our resident valkyrie skwirm.

"We're all girls here, you can tell us a~ll the details." the scythe-wielder grinned deviously. "Don't make us tickle it out of you!~"

Nora looked at me with teary eyes, begging for me to save her.

I turned away nervously.

The eyes that the sisters are giving me are much more fearsome than you're cuteness. They promise dark things should I interfere. Even Blake and Weiss seem to be gathering interest.

Pyrrah scooted in closer to her female teammate.

"I'm afraid I've garnered some curiosity as well." she sheepishly admitted, much to the siblings' joy and Nora's sadness.

I tried to focus on the fight.

Sovenar lashed out again as Ren aerialed over the attack, firing, a few grazing the titan, but any potential decisive hits splashed across skin like water as Dust sequence circles formed, stopping the Dust rounds in mid-air, dispersing the Dust into the atmosphere in emerald flashes.

Sovenar had the clear advantage with pure physical specs, as the moment Ren got close, his strength would really become decisive for the fight, but should Ren keep attacking at a distance, he would still do little to no damage while expending a large amount of energy moving about.

Also why nobody expected Ren to just dash past Sovenar's guard and running on the staff in the titan's hand. Sovenar quickly fired a Dust spell from the other, unheld staff, causing it to strike Ren hard in the back between his shoulder blades but the bladed pistols that he wielded slashed across the left side of his face in a cross shape, a thick black cross of Dust clouded over the wound to prevent excessive bleeding at the same instant as impact, also preventing a serious injury as a result.

A truly remarkable formula indeed.

Ren proceeded to crash another dozen and a half feet across the ground, dark clouds of Dust forming at every other skip with the ground, showing how much the blow had prevented Ren from using his aura to protect himself at his maximum.

Sovenar dropped his weapon as he rushed to help carry the now unconscious Ren to the medic tents, his incredibly long strides getting Ren there in just seconds.

The rest of Team JNPR rushed to our teammate's side.

We were lucky that a secondary attribute to Ren's amethyst aura, or lotus pink, some could argue, was kinetic reflection, so the force of the blow had been largely distributed all across his back and shoulders, causing major bruising and some capillary tears, but nothing life threatening.

"I am so sorry…" we heard Sovenar talk for the first time. "I tried to control my strength the best I could, but-"

"It's ok." Ren, who regained consciousness cut him off. "I learned a lot from fighting you, just - urk!... It's a bit of a painful lesson."

"Ren! You'll be ok, right? This isn't enough to keep you down right?"

Ren laughed and winced as the medics quickly healed up his bruising, the dark black and purple blotches becoming a light yellow-tan in minutes.

"Nora." he smiled. "Just who do you think I am?"

An inside joke I assumed, as the girl beamed, wiping tears from her eyes.

The medics tried to shoo us away as they wished to also check is aura flow, but whispering credential codes in their ears I convinced them to let me and Nora stay, although this meant disqualification for Nora.

It was still a victory for our Clan as Sovenar and Ren's bout had been classified as a tie seeing as how in a real fire situation, either or both of them could have landed killing blows with that final decisive hit.

Sovenar even nervously asked if they could leave some of Ren's attack as a scar, because he wanted to honor such a brave attack.

I let my fingers graze over skin as I closed my eyes, using my aura to replenish and fix spiritual connections and fix the size of the openings and closing of aura channels in the body. Though this being my first time operating on somebody not myself, I found five points that the medics might have overlooked as they were better trained for physical healing, not aura. The aura pathways are somewhat similar, but different for every human, after all. Though I could only point them out, the actual healing and the like was left to the professionals.

I was proud to say that I cut his rehabilitation from months to days as a result.

"Thanks for helping with the healing." Ren said as Nora helped the boy put on his clothing, hovering about like a mother hen, seemingly unaffected by his near nakedness. "I actually feel better than before we started the spars today, although I'm tired as all hell."

"No problem." I nodded. "I'm glad to have been of help."

Team RWBY as well as Pyrrah were waiting outside the tent as they all complimented Ren for his exceptional match against such a powerful opponent.

"Can you believe that guy was an S rank?!" Ruby asked us all incredulously as the Dust formula was removed from us by the instructors. "And Ren tied with him! You're amazing!"

Ren smiled calmly, too tired to be excited.

"I got lucky. That would only have worked one out of ten times, probably. I'm just more surprised that he isn't in a more advanced class for combat or training separately."

"Ozpin wanted him to be a part of the round robin today, apparently. I heard it from one of the more motherly medics as I helped heal Ren. It was supposed to be inspiring for the other students, but that's not what would have happened if he had just dominated. People would have been more afraid of him than anything."

Weiss grew furious.

"This is an abuse of power! How dare he do this?! Your brother may be Headmaster, but that kind of decision is so irresponsible that I can't even begin to describe how many ways he'd be fired if he was a Schnee company employee!"

I patted Weiss on the shoulder, helping her calm down as she fumed about the need for proper business manners and the like. So that's the kind of things a princess like Weiss Schnee worries about, huh?...

"I told you that he liked pulling stunts like this. But he also finds people like Sovenar Kastil all the time. Why do you think Beacon is so famous? Most of the legends that come out of this academy are 'interesting' people that he personally scouted."

Ruby had a nervous shuffle as she heard that.

"I'm a bit scared…" she admitted while tugging at her cloak. "But at the same time I can't help but be a little excited. So _this_ is Beacon, huh?"

We all smiled a bit at that.

What kind of warriors didn't get a bit excited at the thought of fighting somebody strong and getting stronger from it?

With that in mind, it isn't surprising that Beacon is the most revered Huntsmen Academy out of the four kingdoms of Vytal.

I suppose even crummy Oz can do something good every once in a while, even if it was unintentional.

After changing back into our uniforms and putting our equipment away again we all headed to the dining halls. Needless to say it was a pretty interesting experience as although most of the people had already heard about our initiation exploits, the results today at the Intermediate Combat Intensive class had already seemed to have spread throughout the school in the extra half hour it took to do a full scan over of Ren.

The dining halls was a huge complex, five stories tall. It really made you wonder where all your tuition money went as the top was reserved for the top ten ranked teams in the school as well as faculty members and the floors scaled up from first years and up. It was rare to see eyes that were actually focused on food.

Not to mention all the food choices one could make.

And we had all won a dinner buffet usable at any time from Goodwitch.

We didn't use it that day.

"I can't eat." I sighed, "So many people are staring at me that it's not even funny."

I fiddled with my bean stew and spaghetti, spinning the noodles around and around my fork.

"They're not really being discreet about it either." Blake agreed as she nibbled on a fish and egg fried rice, being surprisingly discriminating against the onions.

She was also reading again.

"So, just to be clear this staring is not normal human interaction?"

The whole table burst out into giggles, Nora almost choking on a glass of apple cider.

"Sound about right! You're catching on quickly." Ruby teased me as she flicked a grape at me using her spoon.

"Hey cut that out! I'll fling my meatball at you."

Yang and Blake both choked on their food.

Ren uncharacteristically burst out into full laughter.

"Bad word choice, my friend."

We all turned to see a tall, lean red haired student with a third year badge on his blazer.

He was wearing a high collared black trench coat over his clothing and had a white porcelain mask with Grimm markings over it. The left sleeve was entirely cut off and a giant metal left arm reached all the way to his knee, making it clearly obvious that it was one hell of a prosthesis. It was a gunbolt grey and as a tinker I could tell that it housed a multitude of weapons and plenty of Dust.

For some reason Blake looked at the guy like he was somewhat familiar.

He must have looked like somebody she knew once?

"Yo. I hear lotus boy managed to go toe to toe with my kid brother." he chuckled happily, practically humming, "I'm glad somebody could keep pace with him, even for a bit. He could use the confidence boost, poor kid."

The student flashed us with his pearly whites as he pulled out a box of cookies and started munching away.

"I'm Kastil. Kastil Kastil the Eighth. Terrible name, I know. Eldest child also has the family name as a first name stuff in my family. A load of bull if you ask me, but eh. Want a cookie?"

Rose stared at the box, a small bit of drool at the corner of her mouth.

"What do you want with us?" Ren asked calmly, eyeing the upperclassmen.

Kastil scratched his head with a confused look that could only be understood via body language.

"Nothing, really. Just wanted to say hi and meet the new hot news on campus. No big. That and ask you to school little Sov here and there if you can. For such a big guy he's always been shy as a lost lamb. Just be careful, he's the one that accidentally tore me arm off you know, which is a shame because nobody wants to fist-fight with me when I'm lugging this thing around." He laughed nonchalantly as he rolled his left shoulder, flexing the metal arm, digits and all. "I just came by to tell you cute little underdogs that I'm expecting big things from your Clan. Big things. Fun things, he he. Come challenge my Team KSTL anytime, eh? I could use the exercise."

Team KSTL?

And I though that Team CRDL sounded self-serving.

"You shouldn't underestimate us." Yang challenged back, "We have a habit of being unconventional."

"Yes! Now this is fun banter! Nobody has fire in them anymore, a pity you're blonde or I'd ask you out right now!"

"You got a thing against blondes now?" Yang glared, actually angry, ignoring Blake trying to calm her down. Ruby became preoccupied by the eldest Kastil sliding the box of cookies her way.

"More like a certain level of phobia. I've had a couple of bad childhood experiences, nothing you need to know, goldielocks."

He laughed as he dodged an angry jab by jumping to the top floor, not even bending his knees as he stood on the railing, only the barest hint of aura used.

"The people at the top are always waiting for fun to come our way. Don't disappoint us."

Needless to say that other than Ruby who almost cried tears for her delicious cookies, the rest of us had lost the majority of our appetite, but we forced ourselves to eat a bit because food is important.

Well, maybe not Yang.

"Stupid - mphg - who the - munch - does he think - gulp - he is?!"

So she's the type to eat or punch her feelings huh?

"You just thought something rude about me, didn't you?" Yang glared at me as I shook in my seat.

"No, no of course not."

"Well…" Ruby said as she finished off her last cookie, "I think I know what our clan name should be."

"What is it?" Weiss asked, although she didn't seem to be expecting much.

"Clan Ala Alba, or Clan White Wing. Because while we're here, we should aim to reach higher than anybody else right? To fly harder and fly higher than them?"

"That's actually pretty good." the Schnee Dust caster agreed, obviously impressed. "I didn't think you could actually think of something that good."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It probably helps that we have somebody who actually has white wings." Blake mused as she looked up from her book to glance at me, her eyes drawing me in for a minute before I righted myself.

I truly have zero experience with women…

We turned our Clan name registration after dinner, heading back to the Clan Hall for the night, picking up some groceries on the way.

Ruby insisted on baking supplies and plenty of milk while Yang had reached for all the salty snacks she could get her hands on.

Ren picked out some vegetables with me to help balance out our meals for when we would cook at home as Pyrrah and Blake had a discussion about red meats vs white meats vs fish. We all worked to keep Nora from buying jars of honey and bags of sugar, though we did get some of the latter for Ruby's sake.

We had to reach a compromise for Yang though and made sure to buy some good quality cuts of meat in exchange for her cutting down the amount of snacks she wanted.

But Ruby absolutely refused to buy milk in large containers, and demanded that we set up a milk delivery system with the grocers and buy milk in small bottles.

Still, it had helped us unwind a bit, a taste of normality after a day of weirdness.

For me, it was a restless night and I found myself unable to sleep and I sat on the roof all the way until sunrise. The shattered moon was still visible in the sky like a fragmenting meteorite.

"Hmmm. The pieces of the moon are separating again. It's waning then, huh?" I sighed. "I want to see the full moon. Tsk. Too bad it takes twice as long to wax as it does to wane. Forging weapons using aura and Dust is best closest to the full moon too…"

"Jaune?"

I turned to see Ruby with a small bottle of milk.

"Hey Ruby. You're up early."

She scratched her head nervously, her 'angry eyed' sleeping mask still on her head and dressed in her pyjamas. She had tossed her cloak on though, not surprising in the coldness of the early morning.

"I couldn't sleep well. First nights in new places are always a bit nerve wracking for me. Yang sleeps way too well though, she even somehow sleep walked into my bed to cuddle." She sheepishly admitted. "So I thought I'd get some air and see the sunrise. That and milk helps me calm down."

"Ah, is that so?"

"Yup."

We sat in silence next to each other as we watched the sun slowly rise.

"...Hey Jaune."

"Hmm?-PPPPFFFT!"

Ruby had a milk moustache and was posing, head turned slightly to the side with a L made by her thumb and index finger supporting her chin.

"Wha-what ha ha ha are you - pftkha ha ha ha - doing?" I asked, struggling for breath.

She flushed before wiping the milk moustache away while looking away from me.

"You looked like you needed the laugh. That and you have bags under your eyes. You've been up all night, haven't you?"

I chuckled.

"Even though we've only been friends for a few days, you know me really well, don't you?"

"It-it's not like that… you're pretty easy to read… I mean… ummm… It's not like I was trying that hard to cheer you up or anything..."

I stood up before slapping my cheeks simultaneously with the palms of my hands to wake myself up further.

"Yosh! This isn't the time to brood and be depressed. I mean, this was only the first day. Things will only get better from this point on. No point in worrying too much about the future. We just have to get stronger right? I don't know about you, but I want to smack that idiot with a repeating name once at least for looking down on us."

I turned to Ruby with a smile.

"Let's get stronger. Let's become the most awesome Hunter and Huntress Clan ever!"

Ruby hopped onto her feet, grinning.

She then turned to the rising sun and cupped her hands.

"CLAN ALA ALBA'S GOING TO BE NUMBER ONEEEEE!"

I laughed.

"WE'RE GONNA KICK ASS AND TAKE NAMES!"

"WE'RE GOING TO SMACK BEACON A NEW ONE!" Ruby followed.

"WE'RE GONNA BE THE VERY BEST!"

"LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS!"

"YOU'RE GONNA BE CATCH ALL MY DUST SPELLS TO THE FACE FIRST IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP! WHAT TIME OF MORNING DO YOU THINK THIS IS?!" Weiss had awoken from our screaming and had opened the window to Team RWBY's room and berated us for our early wake up call. "I SWEAR YOU TWO WON'T LIVE TO SEE YOUR FIRST QUEST!"

"..."

"..."

"...why are we actually doing this?" I asked Ruby as we both knelt in the hallway on the second floor in something called a seiza position with signs around our necks saying 'We're idiots that scream in the morning, we're sorry.'

"Because Weiss might kill us if we don't?"

"She's sleeping in her chair."

"Do you really want to risk that, Jaune?"

"..." I pondered and pondered. "Yeah good point."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...You know, she looks really at peace when she sleeps."

"Isn't it nice?" Ruby asked, agreeing with me.

"Yeah, I worry about her blood pressure. I hear people who get angry often have a problem with that."

"Pft. What are you, an old man?" Ruby joked.

"No, but I'm afraid for the circulation in my feet. I can feel my cells slowly smothering and dying."

"Urk, don't remind me."

"Yeah. Such a shame though."

"What is?"

"Weiss looks really pretty when she isn't frowning. Doubly so when she smiles."

Ruby narrowed her eyes at me as she pouted.

"Just so that you know, you shouldn't complement other girls too much when you're talking with one."

"Is that so? Ok, I'll be sure to remember that."

"You better, mister."

"Ok, ok. I didn't think that saying that Weiss is pretty when she smiles was that much of a compliment though. Doesn't the saying go 'All women are like blooming flowers when they smile?' "

"...Still."

"Ok then."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...You've seen Weiss smile?"

End

AN2: The milkstache Ruby idea is something I saw on DevArt. It's on somebody's RWBY comic, so that idea originally theirs, although I'm sure everybody thought of it. They were just the first to produce it publicly. Hell that was the first thought I had when I heard her say "I drink _milk_." in that huffing tone of hers.

You all excited for episode 10 to come out this Thursday? Two more days people!

I can finally find out if I was right about the Grimm being a Boombatusk or not :P

Anybody wanna bet with me?

Leave it on a review or PM. If you win I'll make a OC character after you or make a certain event happen, though I retain the right to take creative liberties with it. Like with the Lucian Umbra OC, for example.

I like making things funny/badass. It's such a fun past-time.

Whelp, time to begin writing the next chapta! Review people! I'm always open to suggestions!

And spread awareness, tell your friends, I'm only desperate for your company, after all, just kidding don't hurt me pleaaaaaaaase.

….this is what happens when I post up chapters late at night…

KSLCross


	8. Jaune the Mulchkin Breeder

AN: So for future references, I've decided 10 Lien = 1 buck. Or something like that. Whee!

And somehow this chapter became a heckuva lot of fanservice… enjoy? lol

I also wonder how many references I can make overall without people seeing them? I've already made one about Jiraiya from Naruto pushing him off the cliff to train him in like chapter 3, lols, but I don't think people noticed. And a Riders of Berk reference (How to Train Your Dragon) in ch 5 bringing up old bitter Mildew.

And what do you think you'd like to see for the Beacon Academy Monthly Challenges? In theory there would be a lot and Clan Ala Alba only participates in a couple of them, but ideas are welcome. If they don't compete in them, you might see Team KSTL or CRDL go around and mess faces up.

Begin

"Do explain to me, one more time, as to _why_ I've been delegated to help with such menial labors?" Weiss growled miserably as we trekked through the wilderness.

"Oh suck it up." Yang grumbled. "It's not Jaune's fault that we drew the crap lots."

Beacon Academy was a school for training Hunters and Huntresses. As such, not surprisingly, students could take on quests during weekends and the occasional vacation time to fill up part of the required credits for a quarter. It was a simple system that many schools of the sort utilized.

However, first years weren't allowed to take any higher than C Rank without permission and needed recommendation to take a C Rank in the first place, especially seeing as how some quests took multiple days to accomplish. This might have been part of the reason for the surprisingly lenient schooling system of Beacon.

Sometimes, taking enough quests and missions could give students enough credits to pass a quarter's credit requirement without having to take any classes, which although some people such as Yang and Nora were very eager for, the rest of us acknowledged that we wouldn't come across such high yield quests so easily.

Vytal was in a time of peace at the moment anyways.

"Don't choose a stupid quest like searching for rare herbs in the Emerald Forest next time then! This is terrible for my skin! I hate this humidity!"

"Sorry, sorry." I apologized, "But this is an investment. Think of it that way."

"Pray tell and maybe I won't run you through with Myrtenaster."

I smiled, sweating a bit.

"Ok, this herb that we're looking for is rare, but it existed by my village as well, so I know where and how to find it. The Mulchkin is a very small tree-like plant. They ones around Vale tend to look like oak trees and go as far as to reproduce through small acornish nuts, though they're colored like blueberries. It's seeds and leaves have healing properties and help treat allergies. In a combat school where people need healing daily, it's easy to run out of basic plants such as this and in a pinch they'll send out quests for it in bulk."

"Yes, yes, I know. It's cute that you think I care that much about this additional information, but do cut to the chase. My time is precious."

"Hohhh~?" Yang grinned a she prodded Weiss in the sides.

"I-I mean! Just spit it out!"

"Well, Mulchkin plants only grow in specific wild places and are very potent. You can make a lot of different salves as well as create salves in great quantities with little to begin with. You actually get pretty decent amounts of Lien and academic credits for a simple F Rank quest like this just because of its rarity. Up to that of a very low C Rank, a very nice trade-off, yes? Now what if I told you that I found a way to cultivate Mulchkin back in my old village?"

Weiss stopped walking and gaped.

That was the first time I would cause Weiss Schnee to become speechless.

"Then that means, should we do so, every time this quest should come out, we could just farm it for Lien and academic credits… A high yield, low risk and low effort process. That's ingenuity! And because nobody knows of the cultivation, if we simply keep a low profile and wait some time before turning in the quest after it gets accepted, we can create steady income for our Clan!"

"Holy Dust, are you serious?!" Yang asked looking excited.

Looks like she was hoping for a party life after all, huh?

"We can also trade off between Team RWBY and Team JNPR as to who turns the quest in for maximum effectiveness. All we need to do is find a few of the plants first. That's why I brought the six pots and the spades. The best ones humm when the wind blows too, so it'll be fun. A little aura manipulation on my part and I can make them sing. All we'll have to do is follow our ears. Still, this only works because we had that coincidental situation of me knowing how to take care of the plant. Nobody else can pull it off, so advantage Ala Alba!"

"Well, I suppose in that light, I can be a bit more… tolerant of our situation." Weiss reluctantly agreed, though it was obvious that she was number crunching in her head.

"You, Jaune, are Ala Alba's good luck charm. I swear." Yang giggled as she ruffled my hair vigorously.

"Oi! That's no way to treat a Clan leader!" I shot back, laughing.

"I think you're more along the lines of a mascot." Weiss chuckled as she ducked under a low hanging branch.

I grumbled half-heartedly about hypocrites on the chain of command as I poked about tree roots and unusually moist patches of soil in semi-shaded areas, flaring aura here and there to cause a breeze.

It took us another ten minutes to find a Mulchkin, and two more hours to fill up the rest of the pots. Lucky for us we didn't encounter many Grimm although we did come across an Ursa, which Yang called dibs on killing, taking it out quickly with a few superpowered punches and unfortunately garnering the attention of another Ursa.

Deciding that fighting was only going to attract more attention, the three of us ran away, using aura to enhance our speed, Weiss using her Dust casting as a replacement as she flew over the treetops.

Quests were ranked on the following scale: F, E, D, C, B, A, AA, S, Z. Not unlike the natural grading scale for students and actual Hunters, they marked the difficulty of the mission and whether you were allowed to take on a quest or not with consideration of your student class ranking. Automatically AA, S, and Z Ranks were not allowed for Academy students to take and only for graduate Hunters of similar ranks.

Naturally passing all classes and sessions the school provided only fills ten out of the twenty three credits required for a quarter. Failure to fulfil it can mean either the lack of credits carries over until a student can be considered a second year or if really lacking, expulsion. Extra credit would not carry over, but Clan and Team rewards could be bought with them.

F Ranks only gave anywhere from 0.1 to 0.3 credits, most of the time, which also meant that most new teams and students would spam as much of these as possible on the weekends, luckily possible if only due to their inconsequential nature. Such as picking up groceries for a teacher or upperclassman, helping grade papers, moving things about, etc.

Essentially being over-glorified caddy-monkeys.

Weiss had angrily exploded about abuse of powers when she first heard that on Friday when the holographic quest and missions board came online in both our Clan Hall and the Beacon Dining Hall and Main Hall.

E Ranks were only a small step up, if at all, and gave 0.3 to 0.6 credits. Although roughly the same as F Ranks, these also provided Lien, which meant pocket money. This was only because you had to take a ride into town to do pretty much F Ranks for the people of Vale and this could take much more time.

D Ranks were E Ranks with higher priority for the most part, but the occasional low level search and destroy Grimm extermination quests would come up, much to the excitement of first years, and they tended to be snatched up the moment they were posted. D Ranks provided 0.7 to 1 whole credit, but they tended to take up a whole day to the whole weekend, which meant balancing out time against cost. Still, the Lien was good, although if the search and destroy mission was assigned by the school, not called for by a citizen of Vale, it tended to not pay anything but school credits.

People took those anyways.

C Ranks were the highest that first years could take, and only after being approved for C Rank missions by the instructors. These were chock-filled with missions to fight both thugs and Grimm, bodyguard missions, protection of public property, etc. The real stuff giving 1 to 2 Credits on a regular basis, although it was possible that a C Rank would last longer than the standard weekend, or even play out on a regular weekday.

Still it was called the Culling Rank for a reason.

Any student worth their salt went on C Ranks. It was just a rule of law.

Our quest was one of the few that didn't follow the general rule of thumb, as it had very specific requirements as well as high pay off. Students couldn't even register to take it without having been noted in the student database of having high enough medical or herbology knowledge under their description. That and it was one of three F Ranks that actually paid Lien, according to the board, but the other two had been snatched up before the members of our Clan could even take a peek.

Our quest to find one Mulchkin plant and turn them into the Beacon Medical Wing was a F Rank mission that provided 1 credit and paid 1200 Lien. We turned one in for both teams and returned to the Clan Hall with the remaining four for me to begin cultivating and breeding.

"Welcome home." Ren smiled at us in a simple green t-shirt and jeans as we lugged ceramic pots to the backyard gardens.

"Oh shut up Ren." Yang laughed good-naturedly as she flicked some of the soil from the plants at the black haired eighteen year old who ducked under the earthy artillery.

"Hey, no dirt near the food!" Ruby warned her adoptive sister as she floated in the small pool by the stone deck.

She slurped the last of a drink as she adjusted herself in the inner tube that she was lounging in a sitting position shaking the red frills on her black one piece swimming suit.

"Honestly, Yang. If you got any dirt on the meat that Ren's grilling, you're going to eat that." Weiss snootily bit at the tall blonde in a manner that we recognized as the Schnee joking style.

"Mudburgers it is." Ren joked, scooping up some dirt, pretending to try and pour some on a burger.

"Oi!" Yang whined, "I'm sorry ok? Don't do this, Ren!"

We shared a laugh as Ren put down the small handful of dirt.

Nora burst out of the pool, large goggles and snorkel on her face as she leapt onto Ren's back, swiping a sausage and stuffing it in her mouth, much to everybody's complaining.

Pyrrah just shook her head as she sharpened her weapon with a whetstone.

We all had found out that even on a casual day she would wear her battle outfit, much to Weiss' ire, who forced Pyrrah into some of her casual clothes to find that the heiress's clothes couldn't quite contain my partner's ample curves. Apparently a bit of a depressing issue as she even let Ruby try to cheer her up before realizing that Ruby had more cleavage than her after the younger girl gave her partner a hug.

Let's just say that our morning hadn't been fun dealing with an angry and depressed Weiss Schnee.

Yang had pulled out a few old sundresses that she hadn't worn in a long time, since her being twelve, apparently… Clothes which fit Pyrrah perfectly, which brought everyone in Ala Alba to the following questions: 1) Why did she keep such old clothes? And 2) How curvaceous was the buxom blonde in the first place?

This had degenerated into a giant squealing and giggling female groping session as Ren and I were forced out of the room of Team RWBY as we heard squealing, loud crashes, stomping, and pleads for mercy.

Hence why Yang had been forced into helping to hunt for rare plants in the wilderness due to the jealousy of the other girls. Somehow Yang had still walked out of that door like she had won something if the glares from the other girls were any indication.

So currently Pyrrah was in a sundress the same shade of reddish-maroon as her hair, her bronze-gold headdress reflecting the not-quite-fall sun, now buffing out any scratches in her armor and gear.

Some things about Pyrrah will never change.

In less than ten minutes I replanted the four Mulchkins as Ren berated Nora about getting his shirt wet stealing food. Yang and Weiss had stepped into their room to change into their bathing suits and came out the former jumping into her sister, much to Ruby's chagrin and the latter simply sat in a lawn chair next to Blake who was sound asleep, napping in the warm sun soaking up the sunlight with her pale skin shown by a simple black bikini, her book on the ground, Blake's last page lost.

"What?! You're playing in the water without me?! No fair! Just because I'm doing the work here doesn't mean you get to have all the fun!"

Yang laughed in her surprisingly daring a flimsy looking yellow string bikini as she plucked Ruby out of the water with a roar.

"Join us then, hot stuff!" she winked as flesh bounced, eye-catchingly.

I looked at Ren who shrugged at me as he pulled the last of the food off the grill.

At that moment Nora tackled him into the pool.

"Screw it." I decided as I quickly stripped into my boxers. "BANZAI!"

Unfortunately I splashed water all over Blake and Weiss as well, the former flipping backwards through the air, looking left and right for the source of the splashing. The thin white haired girl took off her designer shades as she glared in her modest snowflake patterned two piece bikini, standing up as she dried herself off.

"...Whoops?"

"Whoops this!" she growled as her hair ornament glowed an icy blue and flicks of her wrist dropped the temperature of the water with a crackling sound as ice formed.

"COOOOOOOLD!" We all dashed out of the pool before huddling together, eyes wide fear at the ice princess, struggling for warmth.

"I-I-I c-can't e-even tease Jaune c-c-cuz I'm so cold." Yang chattered, her lips tinted slightly blue as she held me from behind.

Ruby didn't even reprimand her sister as she hugged me from the front.

I unfurled my wings as I wrapped them around the three of us, the white aura turning a light red as I forced them to heat up, getting a sigh from Ruby and Yang. Ren and Nora as well who threw themselves at my aura appendages after I formed them

We all sighed in relief.

"Did you learn your lesson?" Weiss smirked deviously as we all nodded rapidly.

We really needed to stop antagonizing Weiss.

Then I thought of a terrible joke.

"Your lesson was cold... 'Weiss' cold."

Ruby burst out into a giggling fit along with Nora.

Hell, even Blake snickered at the terrible pun.

I made a joke about 'Schnee-zing' and catching colds as I ducked an icicle.

Seriously, who keeps Dust inside hair ornaments?!

On the other hand, the food was delicious. As expected of Ren whose parents own an Eastern BBQ restaurant. Though this and that are technically two different things, cooking meat is cooking meat.

"Ok, Clan!" Ruby said after swallowing her first bites of her relish filled hot dog. "First order of business! We have a challenge from Team CRDL tomorrow! We're allowed to choose the method of combat, so what will we do?"

Blake nibbled at a grilled tuna fish and cheese sandwich.

"Does it have to be an actual battle?"

"That's actually a good point." Weiss mused as she cut into her burger with a fork and knife, much to my personal confusion. Nobody else seemed to be doing that. "Because we can be challenged once a week, if we held battles all the time, we'd get tired out and become easy pickings. I refuse to become a school-wide joke!"

Ren nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps we can have a contest of strength, then? Not combat prowess?" Pyrrah suggested, munching happily on a juicy burger with extra tomatoes. "Perhaps wrestling?"

"Most of our Clan is female, so I don't think that's a good idea." I said, scratching my nose, "That's a social boundaries violation, right? That and that Russell Thrush guy gives me a bad feeling."

"Yeah, and I'm kind of not built for wrestling." Ruby agreed.

Yang mumbled something with a mouthful of burger before swallowing and repeating, "Well, then maybe like a footrace. Ruby's never lost in a contest of speed before."

"But what about that Sky Lark kid?" Nora asked as she played with Ren's ponytail with one hand as she ate a hot dog on a stick in the other. "I lost to him in yesterday's round robin practice match because he was too fast to hit. I swung and he went all 'whoosh!' and 'bazinga!' before he got behind me and the teachers called the match."

She then pouted as she rested her head on top of Ren's.

"I could have won still…"

"A little challenge might do us good." Pyrrah shrugged as she wiped her hands on a napkin. "No point in not pushing ourselves."

"That's too boring though! If we're gonna have a race it should be like a huge obstacle course with fire and pitfalls, and flying monkeys that throw bananas at you!"

"If you want Jaune to hit you with _bananas_ you know you can just ask, right?" Yang snickered.

"Oi!" - "Sis!" Ruby and I cried out indignantly.

"I am not a monkey!"

Wait… bananas…

"Hey… do we still have the all you can eat dinner buffets for everyone, right? Why don't we use two of them to have an eating contest? Cardin versus one of us? It'd be easy and simple. Besides they're betting a one time room cleaning service against the weapon maintenance vouchers we got from Wednsday's random round robin when Weiss kicked everybody's butts. Pyrrah, Ruby, and I are more than able to do that in the first place with the workshop and forge we have set up at the Clan Hall, so it's not a total loss to begin with even if somehow we lost."

"Hmmm. I suppose you're right. Although I doubt that anybody can out-eat Juane, Yang, or Nora in the first place…"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean, princess?" Yang's eyes narrowed dangerously before she yelped Blake groped her from behind.

"We mean that everything you eat seems to go feed these cheeky little puppies." The amber eyed girl spoke, barely above monotone as she got a handful of her partner, hiding obvious jealousy.

"As leader of Team RWBY I demand the secrets of this ridiculous body!"

"Hey that tickles! Stop! Ruby, Blake what are you two - Gahaha! Kya! Where are you touching?! Weiss! Stop poking! That's my ass! STOP GRABBING!"

Pyrrah dashed from her seat as both she and Nora covered up Ren and my eyes.

I couldn't help feel that I was missing out on something incredible.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Yang yelled, obviously exploding in a burst of flaming aura, if the rise in temperature was any indication. "Stop touching me in inappropriate places! I'm the only one allowed to do that to other people!"

That's… really the reason you get angry here?...

I heard Yang take a few slow, shuddering, gasping breaths.

"Ok, we scare the crap out of most people. I think we can agree on that, so an eating contest is fun, can attract a normal crowd, and make us seem a bit more normal, we all agree with that logic?"

I nodded, and assumed the rest of us did as well, since Pyrrah was still covering my eyes. I mean, nobody was arguing back. Then again, it wasn't like I could see how angry Yang sounded.

"Good. And because Weiss might get on our case if we lose, we'll use four total out of the eight for two people from each team for better chances of victory. It's not like our Clan's likely to pig out in the first place, so yeah. Besides we still could use the remaining four to challenge somebody with one of our teams if we feel the need to. These coupons might be expensive, but they're useless for us in the first place."

Not to mention the one day full library use voucher that Blake had won but refused to give up to anybody.

Our weekend passed fairly harmlessly after that as all of our equipment got some light reinforcements and dents and scratches were buffed out. Team RWBY and JNPR finished our homework. Though Proffessor Porp annoyingly made us all go hunt down a Beowolf for our Grimm Studies weekend assignment and write a report on how the markings on the mask determined their position in the pack.

Yang griped about how she was sure she'd have to file sexual harassment reports against the professor she aptly named 'Pork-Chop Porp'.

I also got mail.

Not thinking about who might have sent it I opened it only to be covered in chocolate pudding as a note in a clear plastic bottle stated: "From Ozpin, with love." before the note caught fire when I opened the bottle to pull out the incriminating evidence, much to my ire.

"He's an asshole, but you should have noticed something weird. I mean, there's no post on Sundays." Ren chuckled as he ate a circular cracker.

I wiped the pudding off my face with a rag.

"There's no post on Sunday? But that owl dropped it in my lap and flew off! What was I supposed to do?... I hate Ozpin..."

Ren blinked.

"An owl delivered you a package?... And you opened it without checking it?"

"..."

"..."

"...Ok you're right, I kind of had this coming."

Didn't make me feel any better.

Freaking hate owls…

Well… Time to see if Team CRDL can match Yang and my bottomless stomachs.

End

AN2: As always, read and review! I wonder which of the four CRDL members seem like the best eaters? Russell looks too thin, but looks are deceiving. I actually think he looks like a creepy punk rocker and dislike him, even though I don't know his character, but he looks evil! Lols

That's so messed up of me -_-;; judging people about their looks…

But anime-logic rule 1: ugly people tend to be evil.

Cardin and squinty-eyed Dove Bronzewing look more like the heavy chewers, although I doubt that the former can hold his own in a eating contest. He looks like he eats military rations for every meal. Way too military. And that sumo-pose he made in episode 4 when they launched him into the air… can you say awkward? lols

And Sky Lark makes me think of the side-challange boss navi Larkman from Megaman Battle Network 6 (I think? Or was it 5?). Fast-ass motherfucker that was impossible to hit half the time.

Ah, well whatever.

Review! Do it now! All suggestions are welcome!


	9. A Film of the Flaming Hound of War

AN: I just realized, that to an extent Yang's looks reminded me of Panty from Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. But I only knew the characters, and so I went and watched a few episodes.

What da f*ck did I just watch?...

And LOL dat RWBY Wiki Chat - so funny.

And… wait… Have I been spelling Pyrrah's name wrong the whole time? Wiki says Pyrrha… Well slap me silly and call me Sally… eh, you'll just have to live with it. I'm not changing all this stuff now. XD

And I don't know about you, but every time I typed out Mulchkins I laughed. Mulchkins in the Emerald Forest. PFFFFFT.

Begin

Red… the color painted the white walls in its hue.

Brown streaks stained pants, yellow liquids were scattered, refusing to intermix with the semi-solid red pastes on the floors and the entirety of the room.

Bodies laid about under and over broken furniture, tables and chairs, as sloppy, chunky wetness dripped everywhere, splattering onto the once clean linoleum floors.

Broken glass and fragments of a boney white littered the area and the scent of great loss permeated the room.

"...Explain."

Clan Ala Alba and Team CRDL both gulped loudly in unison as Ozpin's eyes glared into and through our souls.

The Headmaster of Beacon Academy sipped from his mug of never ending coffee.

The eating contest had gone surprisingly well.

People had cheered and rooted for both sides as plates scraped clean and stacked like ivory towers.

Cardin had been the first to retire as he upchucked copiously into a large bucket handed to him by a sympathetic looking classmate, one Gregor Piotror's teammates, a messy haired Eastern boy by the name of Ronkuu who looked like he could be Ren's distant cousin.

Gregor had just laughed with his thick northern accent and slapped the poor team leader on his back. Unintentionally worsening the issue.

Yang and I had slowed down with our chewing as the other CRDL member Dove Bronzewing matched pace with us, but he looked like he was nearing his limit.

It was then that next plate had cauliflower in it.

I was allergic to cauliflower.

As I pointed that out, the smell became too much and I had to retire as well, grabbing a bucket for myself as Ruby groaned, calling me Vomit-boy as I barked at her to try eating or smelling allergens on a full stomach and feel totally fine.

Cardin smiled at me weakly as we simultaneously emptied our stomachs again.

It was a nice moment of kinship, even in the midst of the competition.

Then came a giant two pound steak.

Yang, the carnivore that she was, dug in with ferocity, relishing every bite of the juicy medium rare meat.

Unable to keep up with what the rest of Team RWBY jealously called Yang's Breast-Appetite, Dove gave in and reached for a bucket as well.

With a laugh Yang had speared the remaining half pound of steak on a fork, (Yang eats really fast) and raised into the air, standing up on the table with a howl as the crowd cheered and jeered when she swung her meat wand around dripping beef juice on the ones too close to the front.

Russel Thrush, had flicked peas at his leader as a joke, telling him to make sure to make a challenge that Team CRDL might win before falling back as Cardin jokingly shoved him just a tad too hard.

Russel fell back, arms flailing as he slipped on a little bile on the ground as his fingers caught the rim of a plate, launching the most deadly edible weapon in all of Vale into the air.

An extra-large guacamole filled bean burrito. Drenched in a spicy cheese sauce, the cylindrical edible Grimm-comparable S Rank projectile flew in the air, time itself slowing down at the sheer audacity of the burrito which did the worst possible thing.

The bean filled monstrosity crashed into the remaining steak on Yang's fork, tearing itself open and fragmenting all over the RWBY girls and leaving dirty streaks in their hair.

A loud silence descended on the room as EVERYONE stared at Yang who trembled and her eye began to twitch.

In the next half second she raised her right leg into the air, perpendicular to the ground, bringing it down with an explosive fire aura kick, the linoleum tiling in her immediate vicinity rippling as the ground warped and a shockwave knocked everybody back.

The table she stood on cracked in half as towers of plates flew into the air as Yang spun on her heel firing plate after plate after the mohawked member of Team CRDL.

The rest of the RWBY girls somehow had been unaffected by the shockwave and they all picked up their weapons, piles of messy sloppy food of all sorts before firing them, supporting Yang with angry shrieks.

Blake's angry amber eyes and absolute silence was twice as frightening as Yang's raging about how her hair had been ruined.

Of course, in their anger and improvised projectiles (Particularly Weiss who had no experience in the art of culinary bombardment) many missed and hit other members of the audience.

This is of course when the seeds of chaos were sown and an all out, no holds barred food fight began.

No…

A massacre is a better word for it.

"..."

Ozpin pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and took another sip of his coffee smugly, somehow. His face was still apathetic to all this information.

"...Interesting. I think I'll look at the security footage. You're dismissed. If it's interesting enough, you won't be demerited for repair costs. Go take a shower." he turned to walk away.

"..."

"...Did that... just happen?" Cardin asked disbelievingly. "We might not even be punished for this?"

I facepalmed.

Ozpin you goddamn idiot…

The RWBY girls were still glaring angry at Russell Thrush out of the corner of their eye, a dark aura swirling around them.

Team CRDL wisely and quickly bowed out a quick apology before fleeing the scene.

Team JNPR quietly followed the enraged Team RWBY all the way back to the Clan Hall. They headed straight into the baths, not even grabbing spare clothes from their room. Which was probably the smart thing to do anyways, so that they didn't get their room messy. We had bathrobes in the bathroom closets anyways.

"...Ren I'm scared…" Nora tugged at her best friend's shirt sleeve with teary eyes.

"I too have some qualms about entering that bathroom at the moment." Pyrrah nervously admitted, wiping down her headdress with a damp rag. "There's an ominous aura leaving the washroom through the cracks between the door and the floor… It feels almost Grimm-like."

I sighed.

Dashing into my room and rooting through my bag, I pulled and put things back in over and over looking for something. My three pudding encrusted, spaghetti-sauced teammates peered in to see me pull out a large jar of what must have looked like putty or clay.

"Aha! Found it!" I turned to the others with a large smile as I opened it, scooping a big handful into a smaller jar. Closing both jars, I handed the larger one to Pyrrah. "This will get all the gunk out of your hair and skin. I used to use this to wash off hunting musk. It's expensive and hard to make, but I assure you that all of you will come out smelling much better and feeling much cleaner. Be careful when you use it on delicate skin through, only in small amounts for facial and other delicate areas, unless you want it to give you cold burning sensations. It's pretty strong to begin with."

I turned to Ren with the smaller jar.

"This should be enough for the both of us." I turned to the wide eyed girls, "Try not to use all of it, ok? You're free to, but it'll take a full week to make a new batch half that size, so leaving a bit to be safe isn't a bad idea. That and you shouldn't need more than a third of it anyways. It's like clay, not soap or that shampoo stuff Ren showed me, so just know that. It will also dissolve in warm water and act as a mineral bath, but that also means you can't avoid the cold burn if you use too much."

Like a bullet they rushed to the bathroom with a faint thank you being left in the wind.

"...Ok?"

Ren just laughed as he walked to the other bathroom.

"Come on, casanova, let's go."

"What's a casanova?"

I set up a mineral bath using half of the handful, the large twelve man sized bath smelling of a lemony-peppermint, entering the bath the two of us sighed as the bath fizzed in contact with the dirt and food stuffs that the initial rinse before we entered couldn't remove.

"This… is really nice."

"He he, isn't it? My gramps was a medicine man and he often went into Vale to sell goods like this to provide funds for the town. Sure we saved seeds and stuff, but we needed to buy cloth, salt, and spices. Not to mention scrap metal to smith with. He taught me a everything he knew. Except this one syrup that could solve any sort of fever. I used to think he was a magician in hiding."

I scooped up a bit of the clay like mixture before handing it to Ren, taking the smaller remains for myself.

"We only need this much? You gave a lot to the girls though."

"Hmm? Well, they got a lot more direct hits than we did and were straight in the middle of it. I'm sure they have the common sense to not use all of it. I did warn them about sensitive skin and girls are particular about skin, right? I overheard Weiss and Yang discuss skin-care products the other night, after all."

"Yeah, girls are pretty particular about things like that." Ren agreed as he rubbed the scented clay through his hair, I warned him not to rub vigorously or into the scalp. It would help revitalize the hair and skin, but it wasn't soft like soap or shampoo, so once the skin became sensitive, it would become problematic if you scrubbed it in.

After we had finished soaking the two of us enjoyed the faint tingling on our skin as the moisture in the air of the bath brushed against our skin as we rinsed ourselves off with clean water.

"Fwahhh! I love taking baths with that! Sometimes I'd cover myself in musk and go hunting just so I'd have an excuse to use it ha ha."

"It does sound like something you would do. Do you need me to wash your back?"

"Sure! I saw this in a comic! You become better friends doing this kinds of stuff right? I'll wash your back after!"

Ren laughed as he scrubbed my back with a towel soaked in warm, soapy water.

"Whoa that feels good! I feel like a kid again! Ha ha."

"What're you, an old man?"

"Naw, I just haven't bathed in the same bath as anyone since I was a kid. I forgot how fun it was to soak and talk about stupid stuff. I spent two years studying because I was angry and forgot to have fun. To be honest, I thought that Beacon was going to be a waste of time, but in a week I've already made some pretty amazing friends! It's also nice how the things I learned originally in those two years to satisfy my desire for revenge ends up helping the friends I made now. Funny how things work out, eh?"

After switching and talking about more random things, we left the bathroom in our robes and both got a bottle of milk from the fridge, drinking it down before plopping down on the couches.

"Hmmm."

I looked up at my friend.

"What is it, Ren?"

"Nothing. Just that the girls haven't come out for a long time."

"What, so we should check up on them?"

"No, just noting something. They should be out soon. Nothing we need to worry about, I think. They're making a lot of noise, so it's not like they're dying. Sounds like they're having fun."

We lounged about enjoying the relative silence before the girls left the bath and slowly came downstairs in their bath towels as well.

"Heyo! Did the mineral mix help?"

Yang smiled at me grinning.

"You bet it did! My hair has zero knots! That stuff's like miracle mix! You need to make this stuff for us to use more often."

"It was certainly effective." Blake agreed, yawning quietly. "I feel cleaner than I've ever been."

I shook my head sadly.

"I know, I love it too. But using too much at once or using it too often isn't that good for you."

All the girls froze mid-step.

"Wh-what kind of side effect?" Weiss asked nervously.

"Hmm? Nothing particularly harmful. Using too much at once will leave your skin extremely sensitive for a while from three to upwards half a day? It has a bit of a time delay though so it wouldn't kick in until an hour or two after you begin soaking. It shouldn't have a problem with hair, it's just the nerve-tingling you really have to worry about. Using it too often on the other hand will dry your skin out after about a week. If it's just a large amount one time you don't have to worry about that stuff though. I learned the second one the hard way once, I had to be wrapped in moisturizing plant matter and gelatin wrapped under bandages for a full month because I started bleeding out of my pores and my skin cracked like, everywhere."

"Grossssssss." Ruby shivered approached the fridge. "So, uhm. About using a bunch at once… what was that about skin sensitivity?"

"Hmm? Uh, you should watch out for quick changes in temperature, or change in temperature in general, I guess. Oh and not to brush up against a lot of stuff, because touching things might give you weird tinglings. I remember when I was six and a bit too much fell in my bathwater. When I got out, I had so much cold shivers I couldn't sleep without my dog for warmth."

"Kya!" Ruby gasped as she opened the fridge.

All the girls stopped to stare at Ruby who bravely snatched a bottle of milk out of the fridge, shivering as she did so using the sleeve of her bathrobes.

"Is there something wrong? A bug didn't get in the fridge, right?"

"Nothing! I just thought I saw something." Ruby told me.

"Uh, Jaune? You wouldn't have anything that would… counteract the sensitivity, would you?" Pyrrah nervously asked me.

"Uh… not at the moment. I could give you something that would shorten the time that you stay sensitive, but it would only do so by making you extra sensitive for the shorter time… what's with the faces?"

"Do you have anything to numb it then? We might have, erm, been a tad excessive and my… legs… might be a bit sensitive naturally, and every step feels like walking in a tundra." Weiss reddened.

"Oh. Just wrap up and keep warm when you go to sleep. I can have something for you by morning if it still lasts, but until then you'll have to bear with it."

"...I'm gonna head to bed." Ren suddenly stood up as he quickly walked past the girls who all suddenly looked like they were dead on their feet.

"Oh, ok. I will too. I'm bushed. I'll set it up so you girls can have the lotion by morning. Gnight! Have fun with your girl talk!"

I woke multiple times in the night, with light sneezing. There was a lot of mumbling as the girls slept though, I could hear it as I walked past the RWBY room to use the restroom. They must have been having some sort of nightmares because they kept making frightened noises.

My sneezes didn't go away until morning.

"Are you sure you girls didn't have nightmares? I heard a lot of whimpering when I got water and used the bathroom in the middle of the night. I have a tonic for sleepless dreams."

"Please stop bringing it up." Pyrrah insisted, her face a bright red for some reason. "I'm fine, the lotion helped as well."

"Well, if you say so I guess. I just worry too much, probably." I chuckled as I picked up a can opener and went to work at a can of tuna.

"Is that canned tuna?"

"Blake?! Goodness you surprised me! Hmm? Your face is red, do you have a fever?"

I let go of the can opener as I put a hand on her forehead.

"You're really warm… Are you sick? Go back to bed! Doctor's orders! I'll make you a tuna melt for breakfast and leave something for lunch. I'll get my fever medicine and-"

"I'm fine! You're worrying too much."

"He, erm, heard a lot of _whimpers_ and _moans_ last night when he left to use the restroom. He's convinced the whole Clan had nightmares." Pyrrah coughed, turning red as well.

"Is the whole Clan sick? I knew my sneezing last night meant something! I'm gonna make sure nobody gets out of bed today!"

"D-don't!" They both cried at once as they pulled at the collar of my uniform's blazer. "You're overthinking it."

"Are you two sure? I'm worried."

"Don't make that face. I won't complain to a tuna melt though…" Blake chewed her lip as she looked away from me and out the window.

"Sure! One tuna melt coming right up!"

"Ah, me too." Pyrrah joined in. "If it's not too much trouble. I'll go wake the others and see if they need the lotion as well."

"Oh… ok. I think I'll just make breakfast for everyone then. Why don't you go help her, Blake?"

"That sounds acceptable." The quiet intellectual of Team RWBY nodded as she briskly walked off with Pyrrah.

"Hmmm. I'll rehydrate and flavor some lotus root as fever reducers and extra energy for the day, just in case, and make a veggie scramble alongside some waffles then. Hmm… Waffel Machine Instructions, huh?..."

I was very proud of my cooking skills.

Everybody had quite an appetite for some reason or another this morning though they did look a bit tired.

"Wow, you girls must have been hungry?..." I laughed nervously. "Stealing Pyrrah's tuna melt might have been a bit much though."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ruby smiled sweetly.

"We only ripped off a piece because Blake wouldn't share." Yang agreed, nodding as she dug into her plate of egg scramble again.

Blake just sat on the back of her chair, nibbling on her tuna melt and staying out of fork and knife reach. Or correction, she was squatting on the back of the chair, only feet making contact.

I don't even want to know the kind of balance needed for that.

Pyrrah looked very disheartened.

"It's ok Pyrrah. I'll make you something you want later, then. Cheer up."

What's with the glares?!

At least Pyrrah looks happy… I sighed. What's a guy to do?

The whole of Ala Alba had a shared class today for Current Affairs: The Short and Long Term Effects. Usually this class was supposed to be a sleeper class as all that really happened was important news clips from the previous week is shown after the current news on the Dustnet is streamed live to the holoscreens.

Most of the time, aside from the occasional Grimm sighting in Vale and sometimes some politician had some speech about maintaining the current state of world affairs. Something fairly tame.

"Today, firefighters rushed to the scene of the Radish Corporation as they desperately tried to quell the raging flames. Dust glyphs had been engraved into many walls of the main office branch as they were activated, likely from a distant and safe location. The fire spread rapidly, before being stopped and suppressed by S Rank Huntsman Ambrosius Mer-Liin who had been visiting the neighboring Schnee Dust Corporation Dust processing factory to discuss a contract on quality-checks. Radish Corp revealed that the previous day they had received a video crystal from criminal at large Roman Torchwick about the inevitable tragedy. Here is the footage."

The screen flickered to show an orange haired man in a white trenchcoat and a black bowler hat sitting almost sideways on a large throne-like chair. He puffed on a cigar, before brushing his bangs aside with a gloved hand.

"Good day, to my dear, _dear_ friends at Radish Corp. Seriously? That's their _company name_? Wow, talk about boring! Anywho, I noticed that you've been doing surprisingly well and I thought wow, surely they don't mind lending a man in need a little Dust."

He laughed, leaning back across the armchair, stretching, before he stood up, a cane in his hand.

"But you know, dear gentlemen. And of course, they _ladies_. Arrr-rrrr-rrr. That your people with more money than god with your _bourgeoisie_ crap won't just help out a brother in need. No… you wouldn't be _fun_ if you were. So you tubers listen to me. By eleven PM tonight, have three thousand cubits of refined and processed dust and crystals. Labeled, if you please, so that I don't have to get a grunt to screw around with resources making sure what does freaking what. You know how it gets, ordering people around and playing god with people's lives right?"

He snickered as somebody handed him a sandwich from off screen.

"Oh, nice. MMmph. That's a good sandwich. Thank you grunt number 83, you're my new favorite. Where were we? Ah, right. The threatening. So if you don't do this or call the cops, I'm going to blow up your fancy new factory. I don't mind you showing this afterwards, heck please, do. I could use the publicity. Do you have any idea what a billboard in Vale Central costs nowadays? And I thought I was the criminal here. Grunt 47! Hold the camera straight… And make sure to get me from my good side. Last thing I need is another bunch of crap footage like my terrible mugshot. Still, even with a little bruising, my hair _was_ fabulous that day. Oh, good times. Breaking out the next day was easier than letting myself be caught in the first place."

He took another bite, chewing slowly before swallowing.

"Ah, well look at the time. You know me, evil plans to formulate, dreams of babies to snack on, stereotypic 'monster' stuff, eh? Just a heads up and have my Dust ready, ok you old farts? Cut the camera."

The newscaster popped back up speaking about the actions that the police are now making to prevent further attacks such as this happening and that Torchwick had ended up getting away with more than five thousand units, having emptied out the factory and fleeing with his terrorist followers.

Radish Corp had done nothing but beef up security and had obviously failed, resulting in a large number of tragedies.

They didn't even try hiring a _single_ Hunter! Who does that? It's easy to get discreet protection if you're willing to promote their activities afterwards.

"Ugh. This is ridiculous. Companies like _Radish_ Corp give us all a bad name."

"Yeah, I mean _Radish_, seriously?"

"This isn't funny, Yang." Weiss huffed as I patted her shoulder, calming her down.

"I'm just saying that you can't have a more ridiculous company name."

"...Well I admit that it certainly is poor decision making that led to the… _unfortunate_ name…"

"The only way to make it worse was if it had been called _Cabbage Corp_." Blake said with the faintest smile making Pyrrah and Ruby giggle, the latter much more loudly than the former.

"But let's be serious here. Six thousand units of Dust products? That's dangerous in any hands." I furrowed my brow. "I know he tried to rob a Dust shop a little over a week ago, I mean, it was on the news that the Dustplane was showing on our way to Beacon. But to suddenly pull off a successful heist of a company and get away without notice? That's crazy."

Then I turned to glare at Ruby and Yang who were both opening their mouths to talk.

"And if either of you bring up my vendetta against the natural motion of vehicles, I will use my medical knowledge to make sure your skin turns orange."

They both closed their mouths.

"This is really an issue though. What would a madman do with six thousand units of Dust? You can go to war with that…" Ren stopped talking as everyone in class turned to him. "...Oh this is really bad. Radish Corp is a new Vale Kingdom company and hasn't spread it's economic empire. If Torchwick attacked any of the other kingdoms' military personnel and left traces of Radish Corp equipment, then this could end the peace."

The atmosphere grew heavy as students began whispering fearfully.

We had all grown in a time of relative peace for almost half a century after unknown years of terrible war that had decimated kingdoms across the globe. The information was considered internationally censored secrets but even the oldest generations currently could not remember what had started it in the first place, making only speculation possible as to the actual length of the war in the first place.

It was a war that only four city-states had survived.

The thought of war was to picture a beast greater, darker, and more fearsome than any Grimm imaginable. Not creatures that ate people, but whole civilizations. Demons that devoured the world.

And now it had become a more than definite possibility.

End

AN2: DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN

RWBY Verse 'bout to get real.


	10. Newfound Idols: Fanclubbing for Peace

AN: Lols. So if any of you read the few reviews I've gotten recently, somebody asked me why I said it was Jaune that was the main character and not an OC. I don't think that person knows about OOCs? Or something? Lols

I was right about the Boombatusk! Whoo! Go me!

But the new episode was a bit underwhelming. I think my expectations were a biiiiiiit (fuckton) too high :P

I donno, it just had a bit of a rushed touchy-feely feel for me. And too much of Ozpin creepin on Ruby. Cradle-robbers, anyone?

That and Porp seemed… competent near the end? It felt off, man. Totally unlike what I expected, although the fighting with the Boombatusk was about what I thought it would have been.

Begin

A full week and a half passed afterwards with no further news on Roman Torchwick's whereabouts or the activities of his terrorist soldiers. Life went on, somehow, as not everybody had the intelligence or insight to see further than the fact that Torchwick had his hands on a small army's supply of the most powerful substance known to man in his hands.

Rumor had spread like wildfire about what the man would do with it.

Some even surmised that he was simply crazy, and had done what he did to prove nothing more than the fact that he could do what he did.

Ren worried the most out of all of us, even asking me for some help on tweaking with his twin bladed pistols, dubbed the Jade Dragons.

Ruby also seemed rather distracted as she had told us the way she had met Ozpin and Goodwitch: a chance confrontation with Roman Torchwick himself.

Yang had actually screamed her head off about how irresponsible that was, making Ruby break into tears in apology. Apparently when she had told Yang about her stopping a robbing of a Dust shop, she never included to mention that she had fought against one of Vale's top five criminals. Luckily for both the sisters and their team mechanics they had quickly hugged and made up, both girls bawling their poor eyes out.

I had given them eyedrops for their puffy eyes as well and the following morning their eyes showed no hint of having cried in the first place.

But that was also what led us to our current predicament.

"Yang… what do have to say for yourself?!" Weiss snapped as the older blonde knelt in seiza apologetically.

"Sorry…" she had an apron on over one of her orange tank tops and jean short-shorts, but all of it was splattered with burnt batter and flour. She had even tied her hair back, an action she personally despised.

I looked into the kitchen to see Nora skating about on the batter coated floors with her bare feet like a figure skater.

A triple axel?!

"I thought you were the one that was mad about Yang ruining the oven in the first place. What are you doing just staring there?!"

"Sorry Weiss!" I stood at attention as she stomped angrily towards me, Yang gave me an apologetic look behind her.

"I can't believe this. This was a good oven as far as middle class tastes and points of view were concerned, and is a very popular model. Replacing this will take at least ten thousand Lien and we've only got the 4800 Lien from turning in the Mulchkin quest twice for both teams and a measly 600 Lien from all that stupid communal clean-up service we were forced to do in the Vale Residential District on Friday. To fix this will be cheaper if you can do it yourself, but I don't think even you knows anything about commercial domestic products, do you?"

"N-no…"

"And Nora! Stop dancing in the - WHAT IN THE NAME OF DUST ARE YOU DOING?! You're kicking up batter everywhere! Stop - HOW CAN YOU DO A DOUBLE LUTZ?! WHAT IS THIS?! Go wipe your feet off and shower right now! I can't believe this! Where is Ren? He's the only one that can keep an eye on her to begin with!" the thin girl fumed as she sent Nora upstairs, flinging a towel after the energetic girl.

"You've really turned out to be a big den mother somehow, haven't you?" Yang snickered before a pillow from one of the nearby couches flew into her face, knocking her over.

I thought so too, Yang. I've just gotten better at not saying stupid things.

Slowly, but surely, this Jaune D'Arc doth grow!

"Hey guys, guys! We - whoa… what… what happened to you Yang?" Ruby stared at her sheepish looking sister.

"Your _sister_ blew up our kitchen trying to make whatever she was trying to make, and ruined our stove-oven." Weiss growled, "And now we're going to have to empty all of our clan funds to fix it!"

"We could turn in the weapon maintenance coupons we won from Team CRDL and the buffet vouchers for something to get our stove and oven fixed." Ren came out of the kitchen, a small bucket full of burnt food mixed in wet slop. "We can just clean the mess ourselves and we can use the burnt and half cooked food scraps as compost for gardening."

We all stared at him.

"That's surprisingly economical." Weiss held her chin between her thumb and index finger, thinking deeply. "Is this a part of your Eastern blood? I've noticed that you really have similar thought processes and work ethics as some of father's advisors. They're of Eastern descent as well."

Ren sweatdropped.

"I'm sure it's just a coincidence. It's called recycling. It used to be more common before the war, I hear. It means to reuse things in either ways that they weren't originally created to serve or repurpose them so that they can serve their basic functions again. Even though Vale doesn't know what that means half the time, we do recycle glass and plastics, right?"

"I hadn't realized that recycling applied to anything other than the breaking down and reusing of glass and plastic. Hmm. Interesting…" Weiss then frowned. "That seems an awfully sad waste of of privileges, though. After that we would only have the cleaning and the free private use of the Beacon Academy training rooms without having to reserve one beforehand that Jaune won from that heavy lifting challenge."

I felt a phantom pain in my shoulders as I rubbed them with a grimace.

"It was a good thing we were allowed to use aura… picking up the Terramod-Class Carrier was a bit… much… even with Pyrrah and Yang helping, I was the one that had to carry the bulk of the weight."

"That couldn't be helped. You were the one that can make giant aura armor to use as supports so we could lift the thing in the first place."

I shivered.

"Yeah, but now Sov wants to have arm wrestling matches and stuff with me _all _the time. He's a good guy, but he'll break me like a china doll."

"Yeah, thanks for getting him off my back for a while." Ren slyly grinned at me. "I have less a chance against him than you do."

"Oh screw you Ren."

I sighed heavily.

"Well whatever. We have a C Rank Qualifying Mission that determines if our Clan can take further C Ranks, so let's just get this set up so we can build a financial base so that Weiss won't nag at us."

"How rude! I do not nag!"

"Yeah! She just mother-hens you to death."

Weiss narrowed her eyes, flicking the Dust cylinder load-out before Dust casting and making Yang float in the air, devoid of gravity.

"Excuse me?"

"He he _nothing_please_don't_kill_me_Weiss?"

Yang fell to the ground with a loud thump as the the heiress 'hmph'ed through her nose before strutting off.

A half hour later we were all dressed in our battle attire, now all equipped with a small hexagonal patch on our left shoulders that proudly displayed an ornate white wing shedding small feathers in a pitch black sky, the shattered moon colored in ruby red shown at full waning - the shattered lunar fragments scattered like scattered rose petals. Pyrrah had even picked up a small armband just for the purpose of matching the rest of us.

Only Ruby's tended not to show so well because of her red cloak.

The issue came with transportation.

"I'm flying by myself and that's final. I refuse to get on that _thing_."

"I'm sure your motion sickness can't be _that_ bad." Blake told me encouragingly.

"...No, it's pretty bad…" Yang sheepishly glanced at be before Ruby poked fun at her for having stepped in some of my vomit on the ride to Beacon.

"Why do we have to take the shuttle?! It's shakier than the transport Dustplane we rode to get here!"

"It will be fine." Pyrrah gave me an encouraging smile. "If you want, then you can just float in midair using your aura while we're in the shuttle. That way, you shouldn't feel nearly as affected."

"...Maybe… but if that doesn't work, I'll just be higher up for a wider spray if I get sick. I don't really want to do that."

"Look, it'll have to do. The shuttle's leaving in five minutes and we brought barf bags for you." Ruby said, holding up large plastic baggies, "Come on, Jaune."

I whimpered.

It helped but half way there I became too sick to levitate, but a sudden pain in the back of my head and everything went dark.

"Ughhhh." I groaned, opening my eyes. "What happened?..."

I was staring at the sky, my head on a pretty comfortable pillow, only for me to turn my head to see Yang smiling sheepishly at me, an angry looking Ruby and Weiss next to her. I turned my head the other way to see a slightly red Pyrrah smiling at me.

"Gmorning?... Where are we?" I groaned as I got up, rubbing the bump at the back of my head. "Why was I using Pyrrah's lap as a pillow?" I yawned.

Turning around I saw Pyrrah try to hurry to put the bronze colored thigh armor back on as quickly as she could, an embarrassed look on her face.

"Sorry… I might have _accidently_ knocked you out…"

Why am I not surprised that Yang would do something so impulsive? It's so darn _Yang_-like that I can't even get annoyed.

"..." I stared before sighing. "Lets agree next time to get a tranquilizer or make me fall asleep with a Dust spell or something next time instead of supplying my head with more physical trauma than it's already suffered, ok? Jeez, I need to cure motion sickness with herbal remedies, somehow…"

People were staring at us from across the streets, whispering and taking pictures on Dustnet Mobiles.

"Why are we the Vale monkey show right now?" I asked the others.

"Apparently our Emerald Forest Initiation's Grimm Encounter was publicized by your brother just yesterday." Yang flicked out a holoscreen on her mobile before projecting commercial that was one of the top ten most watched on the holonet next to Roman Torchwick's recent threat video against Radish Corp and a bunch of kittens jumping rope. "It has our whole Clan and gives a bunch of student stats next to the video. Heck, there's a mixed music track added onto it too."

I groaned as I saw a close up, slow motion, 360 degree clip of my aura armor forming in parts as they assembled, every individual piece locking in with one another, over my body in mid motion before my right fist grew to the size of a mid-sized van and smashed a Death Stalker in the face.

"I never noticed how many individual pieces went into your armor. That's… well… that's a lot." Blake replayed the 360 degree clip, pausing at moments to get a closer inspection.

"I wanted to make armor without seams or weak points. It wasn't easy, I can tell you that." I shrugged before sighing. "I put a _lot_ of thought into the armor designs."

"It's your aura, you made designs?" Weiss asked, her interest obviously piqued.

"Well I didn't just get it from anywhere. I memorized it by heart and practiced summoning, attaching, combining, and dispersing it so much that it's become a second instinct. Two years of training in bitterness and anger worked surprisingly well for me, as depressing as that sounds."

"Still, that _is_ quite impressive. It's a feat that nobody else can do, after all." Pyrrah smiled.

"Ozpin's still dead… It even states me and Ruby as the team leaders, ergo also Clan leaders, as well as all of our student ranks. Is he trying to make us his personal trophy students now?"

"You think that's bad? Look, my baby sister has a fan club. They're promoting it in the comments."

"What?!" Ruby flushed as she tried to grab the mobile from Yang's hands as the elder sibling gleefully projected windows, making Weiss and Nora laugh heavily at the younger girl's embarrassment as fanart of all sorts and confessions of thirteen year old girls' undying loves appeared.

"What the… most of these are actually teenage girls. I guess being two years younger than the normal acceptance age makes you a big role model." I chuckled. "Isn't a bit weird that some of these girls are saying they want to bear your children?"

I ducked as Ruby jumped over me, a flying scissor kick aimed where my face had been just a second ago. Thank you for your training, Yang.

Hmmm.

I pulled out my mobile as well as I flicked it open, finding a dozen fansites for Ren just by searching for his name.

"PFT! Hey Ren! Guess who they're calling 'The Lotus Prince' and 'Our Heart's Jade Dragon' on the Dustnet. Oh heavens these names are cheesy as hell."

A dark aura drifted of Nora in angry pink droves.

"Nora…" he tried to placate her, "I'm not responsible for this… I didn't do anything!"

"Rennnnn~ I'm your best friend… _riiiight_?~"

"Of course you are. Did you even have to ask?" Ren replied quickly with mild fear, obviously never having seen his childhood friend in such a state. Heck, nobody in Ala Alba could have seen _that_ coming.

It was messed up how oddly funny a jealously angry Nora was.

"Well… I hope _that _becomes a thing…"

What a terrible thing to say Blake… funny, but terrible.

"Hmmm. I wonder if there's anything on me?... Oooh. Oh. Wow. Erm. That's a lot… where the heck are these… how did… OZZZZZZZZ! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING MAKING A FANPAGE ON ME?! This is a violation of privacy! Why are all my old childhood photos doing up on here? Are you kidding me?!"

"What's that?" Ruby asked, eyes shining, "You have childhood photos online?"

"Oh shut up." I groaned as I slumped to the ground. "He's going to give me indigestion and I'm too young for this…"

I looked up to see the girls all shuffling through photos together.

"What kind of friends are you?! Are you demons?! Are you Grimm in disguise?!"

"Awwwwww! It's little Jaune in a cat costume."

"NOOOOOOOOO! RUBY DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"

"That is really cute. Look at this one." Blake prodded her team leader as she showed a different photo on her mobile.

"Oh my goodness. Are you wearing a dress?" Yang broke out into tears of laughter as she glanced at that one over her sister's shoulder.

"NOT THAT ONE! MY MOM WANTED A DAUGHTER AND I WAS THREE! COME ON!"

"Oh, but Jaune, you made such a _cute_ little girl." Weiss snickered as she slid her finger across her holoscreen. "Ooh, look, his dog's pulling off his swimming trunk here. It's in his lakeside photos section."

"...Kill me now."

"This is what we call karma, Jaune."

"Screw you, Ren. Screw you…"

I couldn't stop them. Together they were an unmovable force as they downloaded ALL the pictures. Each. As in every one of them had every single photo that Ozpin had put up on the Dustnet. I had never thought that any of my photos had been embarrassing (sans the forced cross-dressing when I was three, but come on, I was _three_) until today.

A brisk walk later, we arrived at our job contact location in the commercial district on the corner of Katashiy and 4th street. Monochrome and concrete buildings surrounded us on all sides, gleaming silver and rough stone stood like well sculpted molars in the industrial maw of a sleeping beast. Or something like that, but the dominating effect was easily negated by the sounds of music, flickering of neon-Dust lights, and both the smells of food and old tobacco littered the streets.

"Good. You're that up-and-coming Clan, right? The Ala Alba? I saw that initiation video of yours and I was certainly impressed. Didn't think you'd be the ones to respond to this request." a grizzled looking old man greeted us at 'Ten/Ten Weaponsmith'. Our mission was to protect his shop, family, and merchandise until the end of Sunday when he finished his product for the Vale Police Department and help them take the munitions and equipment to the armory once finished.

"Normally, I can handle a few of them delinquent gang members by myself, but this year's a bit more dangerous and the police forces want a little more and significantly better hardware than they normally do after the Torchwick and Radish Corp fiasco and a good thing too. Finally feels like they're taking their jobs seriously." the man snorted. "But the issue lies in that I've become a big target until the VPD gets their order. Afterwards they should know better than to deal with me in a confrontation. It'd be a waste of resources."

"Don't worry, sir! Clan Ala Alba won't fail you!" Ruby saluted cheerfully.

"Just call me Tennyson." the weaponsmith chuckled. "My daughter's quite the fan of you and your sister there, you know. She entered Signal earlier this year because it's a combat school that makes you forge your own weapons and found out that you came out of there and she got all pumped up last night about somebody so close to her age already in line to become a Huntress."

Ruby winced slightly as she chuckled nervously.

"She dual wields a pair of ninjato at the moment, but that might change soon, gyah ha ha!"

I think if it wasn't for Yang traumatizing her, she'd have been all excited for this.

Live and let learn?

"How is the production going by the way? Knowing the status of development might be important to the protection of the product itself." Ren asked as he looked around the large store.

It displayed a large number of weapons of all kind, many were unfinished mecha-shifts, showing potential customizations on small white boards scattered all throughout the store. Prices and estimations on project completions called out for purchasing in friendly green and red letters.

Ruby looked conflicted as she obviously would have just liked to run about the store, just looking at all the equipment and imagining all the ways that the different weapons could possibly be finished.

Nora had no such qualms.

"Ren! This one looks like your mom's old halberd! I remember when she'd chase after us with it when we stole the spring rolls from the kitchen. Good memories~ except that she's spank us with the flat of the blade, that wasn't so fun. But in a way it was because we got punished together. It wasn't so bad because you were there. He he~ Oh look! This battle-axe looks like a butterfly! Awwwww! That's so cute! Or maybe like auntie Goldman's kissy faces, ewwwwww..."

"Nora."

"Yes, Ren?"

"Calm down."

"Okie dokie!"

"So she's your girlfriend, eh, boyo? I thought you two seemed close. Follow me, kiddos. I'll show you what I've been hammering away at in the old forge." Tennyson chuckled, purposefully not letting the childhood duo defend their positions as singles.

Some odd chill ran down my back at the thought of him bringing up relationships about me, so I thought that it would be best to keep a low profile about romance at the moment. A natural protective instinct, maybe?

Further inside the store, behind the employees only door was a set of stairs leading to the residential area above the store, all privately owned by Tennyson himself, as well as a large forge and workshop.

Dozens of simple, but well designed swords were laid out, like a bizarre semblance of a one man mass production system, ranging from rapiers to broadswords with a triple Dust infusion system, oddly similar to Weiss's own Myrtenaster, although much less elegant and certainly much more inferior materials. They were solid weapons, very strong and capable of dealing strong blows, however in sheer quality they paled in comparison to the weapon of the Schnee heiress. Also, in metal cases around the workshop in both open and empty containers, there were pistols, shotguns, and rifles laid out in much smaller quantities than the simple officer swords, with a small slot for crystal input to charge bullets with a Dust attribute. A large open wooden crate also revealed many uniforms with reinforced kevlar and Dust treated chainmail, both incredibly tough and feather light, sewn into the clothes.

"Impressive." Blake spoke as she turned about the - did her bow just twitch?

Must be my imagination.

"These swords aren't… bad… but they are only middling quality and very limited in the level of aura and Dust that can be channeled." Weiss said as she picked up one of the somewhat clunky rapiers and twirled, giving two quick thrusts into the air. "They are, however, quite well crafted. Especially considering the time crunch you must have been suffering from."

"I have my pride as a citizen of Vale, girlie. This is for the protection of not just me daughter, but all my neighbors and all the children to come. We can't let Torchwick believe he can just get away with what he does."

Yang smiled as she turned towards me.

Meeting her eyes I nodded.

"Yeah. Clan Ala Alba! For the future of Vale, we will protect 'Ten/Ten Weaponsmith', Tennyson and his family, and his shipment for the Vale police force with our lives. Right now, Beacon Academy or not, we are Hunters! We are Huntresses! For the Clan and for the continuation of peace in Vytal!"

My seven friends, allies, and new family all cheered excitedly.

Not because of some stupid credential, not because Ozpin shoved this assignment onto us, but because we want to protect the smiles of the future, we would not fail.

We could not fail.

We _will_ not fail.

End

AN2: Just warning you all that my updates might slow down now because I'm visiting home. I'm not stuck in my empty apartment waiting for my roommates to join me for school writing because I wanna see RWBY episodes or because I'm lonely.

Please review and remember I'm always available for suggestions or questions!


	11. Shattering Gems

AN: There are no character deaths! Don't worry about that. And there's some minor squeamish factors in this chapter, not enough to make it M, but be forewarned. It's really not bad, I just thought that this short disclaimer should be smart to have.

Begin

"To hell with this!" I formed and expanded my aura armor around my arm, swinging with all my aura empowered strength, sending a crowd of roughly fifty street thugs into the air, scraping up the concrete below. "I'm so sick of these cannon fodder! Where are they all coming from?!" I asked as I took another swipe.

"I do not know!" Pyrrah fired from her trusty weapon, Milo, in it's hunting rifle form, looking through a scope that she had attached while using Akouo, her hoplite shield, for both additional cover and so she could work on steadying her aim as she fired shot after shot of aura bullets into the crowd, knocking out thugs with consistent headshots while conserving ammo by not using her .308 Dust rounds. "But they're coming out the sewers as well!"

"Weiss! Freeze it shut!" Ruby fired round after round of aura bullets from Crescent Rose in its sniper-shotgun from, blowing away two to three people at a time.

"Alright!"

Five azure blue lights shot out from Dust sequence glyphs formed in mid air by Weiss' Myrtenaster, sealing the five manholes shut with a large pillar of spiked ice.

"I'm running low on ammo!" Yang growled as she fired aura laced Dust rounds into the crowd, the burning Dust, screeching over the cries of the thugs in pain.

The blonde dodged some scattered gunfire as Ember Cecilia clicked empty. Yang growled angrily as she thrust both arms towards the ground before pulling back, the many shells popping out with a clattering as they fell onto the roof tiles.

"I got more ammunition for you, Ms Xiao Long!" A gray haired twin-tailed girl just a year or two younger than Ruby appeared behind us with a small crate of 12 gauge Dust slugs in hand. "I've put them on ammo belts in the way your shot gauntlets use them as well!"

The blonde grinned, tossing two belts into the air, the ammo feed of the Ember Cecilia growling mechanically as it ate up the Dust rounds, setting them in place as Yang cocked the shot-gauntlets back before sending down a hail of fire.

"Thanks kiddo! Get away from the shop, you cockroaches!"

I fell back, feeling fatigue coming on after my extended use of aura armor. I had managed to extend my total usage time to five minutes, but with such large extentions, even limited to just gauntlets and only using it for two minutes, I was bushed.

"Here, Mr D'Arc, some water."

"Thanks, Maka." I panted, taking a deep swig from a canteen.

Having arrived to defend the premise on Thursday, missing out on Friday's set of classes, not a huge loss as it was a Current Affairs Class and extra curriculars of our choice, not even having Combat Intensive this week due to the finalization of which students will learn under which instructor.

The first two days we didn't see any shady activity, in fact it was too calm and after a while we noticed a few of the same people walk by from the same direction every few hours by the time that it became Saturday, today. Either we had been too hasty in our desire to fortify strategic bombardment positions on the balconies and roof of the building or had done it just in time, because as soon as we finished, thugs of all sorts started pouring into the streets.

They all had one thing in common, somewhere on their clothes or weapons, there was a demonic smiling face with fangs.

They demanded that we give up everything inside the store and house, trying to strongarm and intimidate us into giving into them. Still, the way they held their weapons and stood spoke much more than their words ever could.

They had next to no training. Absolutely none.

If it wasn't for the fact that they outnumbered us a few hundred to one, they wouldn't even be a bother… well, ok, maybe there weren't that much initially, but there was a helluva lot more now. Did every two bit criminal all decide to bum rush this one weapons shop today?!

"Move!" I yelled and picked up Maka, Tennyson's young daughter, jumping back to avoid a full blown RPG launched from within the crowd.

"Where the heck did that guy come from?!" Yang hissed, holding onto the box of ammo that Maka had brought to her moments ago. "We sealed off the sewers! Nobody was carrying anything that compex!"

"Less talking, more shooting!" Weiss growled as she shot off more icy Dust projectiles into the horde of thuggish meatheads, forming frozen walls of the ugliest statues that Vale had to offer.

Another brandish of her hands and the forming Dust glyphs flickered, half-forming before they dissipated.

"I'm out of most of my Dust! I only have maybe two dashes left using my white clarity! I need to fall back and swap out the cylinders!"

"Do it and tell Nora to finish reloading that Dust-nade launcher of hers!" I fired 20mm Dust rounds into the crowd, forcing them full of aura, decent explosions tearing through meat walls with ease, their Dust-infused clothes shredding with the force of impact, not killing them, but definitely causing enormous amounts of internal damage. "We've been holding these bastards off without her, Ren, and Blake for freaking forever!"

I looked down to see Maka under my other arm, my shield deployed over her protectively as I fired into the masses that finally looked like they were starting to die down.

"You ok, Maka? Hope I didn't surprise you."

"Uhm, I'm fine, thank you."

I let her go as the smaller girl, brushed herself off quickly. Pulling a few grenades from under her skirt she pulled the pins, tossing them into the crowd. The grenades were tricky, looking like frag grenades, they burst into flashes of phosphorous light as wires shot out before retracting, tangling dozens of people together at once.

"Wow… that was useful."

Maka blushed.

"Yeah, I'd have used it earlier, but they'd only have freed their friends before we could make any difference. My mother made them. She's on a mission as a Huntress right now and can't help us."

"If that's any indication of what your mother likes to do, we're gonna get along just fine."

"NEVER FEAR! NORA'S HERE!"

"About time! Nail them, girl!" Yang fired more slugs before reloading, dodging as a few bladed weapons were thrown at her. "We're almost done fending them off!"

Nothing is more fearsome than giggling pink-skirted girls with giant Dust-nade Launchers that double as a warhammer which can pop a man's skull like a house falling on a grape. You just shouldn't try and fight against that as a general rule of thumb.

"Alright! We got thi-" Ruby's cheer was interrupted as a sudden flash of light blinded us while hitting the silver eyed scythe wielder, sending the girl blasting back through the roof of the building, her precious Crescent Rose flying into the air as her grip slackened, embedding itself next to the hole created by Ruby's body.

"RUBY!" Yang screamed in shock and desperation as she jumped in after her younger sister.

I turned to see a figure standing on a yellow Dust glyph in the air, staring down at us almost boredly.

I drew my second knife-gun, firing round after round of aura boosted 20mm Dust rounds at him, only for him to dash back and forth in full three dimensional movements as he fired a shot of lighting at me as well.

My wings unfurled from my back, being called for by my aura, blocking the Dust spell upon impact.

I growled at the figure.

He smirked back, spiky green hair held in place by a black and orange headband with small black steel crosses going across his headband, a black trench coat worn over a toxic green button up with a bolo tie, and silvery grey slacks.

I felt the wind itself bend around my skin as I burst into the air at maximum velocity, my aura explosively exploding for an impossible acceleration. the green haired Dust caster just smirked as he scattered small metal cubes into the air, snapping his fingers, the cubes shattered into fragments, launching themselves at me.

I dodged and blocked using my shield and and aura armor to protect myself before planting a ferocious punch in his face, sending the sneaky bastard skipping on the rooftops of grey cement and crashing into a metal air conditioning unit.

"That all you got, ya brat? I'll kill you like I killed your little friend!"

"You PIECE OF SHIT!"

He dodged as I crashed down next to him, unable to satisfy myself by crushing his skull. As he tried to get distance, a Dust glyph appearing under his feet, I lashed out with an enlarged aura gauntlet grabbing him before turning and shoving him into metal water tower, spewing hundreds of gallons of water into the street, washing away some of the thugs that had been attacking, driving off the last few remaining as the tower toppled over, falling towards them.

After hitting the ground the tower sparked with electricity before shredding itself apart, torn and jagged metal flying into the air as the unknown Dust caster grinned, his face torn and bloody and clothes soaked and seams coming undone like a patchwork monster.

The metal gathered together like a reverse firework as it gathered into a grotesque and sorry looking excuse for a blade the length of a few park benches, the fragments grazing me in their return. Hissing in pain, I clashed with my own blade before spinning to kick the new foe in the air, sending him flying toward the ground.

A new Dust glyph platformed below his feet, launching him into the air as he flung the shrapnel sword at me, making it fly through the air like a spear. I dove at him, deflecting the gathered metals, but was knocked off course as the shrapnel spear defragmenting like a giant grenade, my armor forming only saved me from part of the explosion of metal, as some of it embedded into my shoulder and thigh, some of the larger pieces completely tearing holes through one of my wings, making me lose control.

I was tackled out of the air, Blake grabbed me arm around my waist and pulling my right arm around her small shoulders, helping me land safely.

"Are you ok?"

"Ugh. I've been better. This guy uses his lightning aura and yellow Shock Dust to manipulate magnetism. I'm sure of it. That's how he hit Ruby from so far away with lighting, he wasn't targeting her, his target was Crescent Rose. I had to take that last hit to be sure how his aura and powers worked, but I didn't think his sudden magnetic repulsion could be so powerful. If we want to fight this guy, we're best off letting Weiss and Ren handle him."

I coughed, pulling coin sized metal from my flesh as I grit my teeth.

"Don't get close combat with him just because you think he won't blow up that shrapnel sword of his. The fragments that shot in his direction curved around him. He can probably throw up an aura field to slow or deflect Dust bullets too. His natural abilities are the worst for any weapon user."

Blake narrowed her eyes as we both dodged shrapnel striking the ground where we stood like a whip, both of us dodging backwards quickly.

"I need to check up on Ruby. She practically got a direct hit. I'll send Ren and Weiss your way, think you can hold him off for a minute?"

She nodded at me, firing Dust rounds from Gambol Shroud, the variable scythe as a pistol in hand as she dashed about.

I flew back to 'Ten/Ten Weaponsmith' as fast as I could, my aura healing my injuries as it knit together flesh and skin, diving into the hole created by Ruby's fall.

"JAUNE! Help! Oh Dust, she's not breathing! I can't - I don't -" Yang freaked in front of me as she cradled her sister's head with tears pouring down her face.

She had large splinters embedded into her bare legs and cuts and bruises on her arms from when she saved Ruby. She likely shouldered the fall as much as possible to save her sister.

I immediately landed by the sisters, checking Ruby's pulse, I realized that her heart had stopped.

"Dammit Ruby. You don't get to die in Ala Alba. That's going to be rule number one, I swear it." I growled as layered my hands on top of each other, pushing Yang out of the way and beginning chest compressions. "None of my friends are allowed to die on me!"

"Save her, Jaune! Please!"

"I will!" I tilted Ruby's head forward to prevent her from choking on her tongue should she start managing to breathe on her own. "Come on, Ruby. You're a fighter! You're not stopping here. Your story doesn't get to end here, dammit! Yang! Get Ren and Weiss, head after the bastard that hit her in the first place. The sonuva gun screwed with her heart's pace. I can save her but not if you break down in front of me! Go!"

The blonde shook like a sapling in a typhoon before nodding, slapping herself hard in the face, leaving a red mark on her cheek. Her eyes hardened, the usual pale lavender turning red in unbridled fury, her hair glowing with aura as it rippled like flames as she pulled the pieces of wood from her legs, the bloodied kindling bursting aflame.

As she dashed through the hole in the roof screaming for Ren and Weiss to follow her, I continued with chest compressions. If Yang hadn't lost it, Ruby might have already been awake after some emergency CPR, but some more time had passed than I would have liked.

"Dammit!" I ripped open the front of her dress and ripping her grey and pink bra out of the way, ignoring how indecent that must have appeared as I put my right palm in the middle of her chest, ignoring the flaming feelings in my cheeks and forcing myself to look nowhere but her face.

God she looked so much more pale than normal.

Forcing my aura into her system I force-started her heart with a terrible thrust of my palm, her sternum threatening to crack as her ribs bent violently as my aura pulsed through her system, saturating the very air itself.

"I said this would hurt you more than me Ruby!"

I'm not letting anybody die in front of me!

"Live, dammit! Come on!"

I performed three contractions before I checked her pulse again, my aura had brought it back to life, but it was still beyond weak. She still wasn't breathing.

"You're kidding me!" I raged inside before taking a deep breath, my lips crashing down on hers again as I forced air into her lungs, doing my best not to think about how small her mouth was, or how silky her tongue that I had to press down with my own to prevent her from choking on it was.

Five more repetitions of three compressions and inflating her lungs before finally a small choked gasp came out from between her lips as Ruby Rose came back from the dead, her lungs desperately reaching for air.

"Thank god!" I cried out as I began healing her ribs and burnt internal organs with my aura, easing a small herbal and Dust remedy down her throat to kickstart healing processes within her body. "You're gonna be ok. I'll have your ribs and other injuries all healed up in ten minutes. I've been taking some field medic lessons for extracurriculars, thank the stars. You scare us like this again and I swear I'll revive you before I kill you myself."

Ruby choked out a dry laugh as she winced when my hand rubbed her side, feeling a fracture before I got to work on it with my aura.

"What happened?" She asked. Her voice sounded dry. So dry.

"You got hit by a long range Dust spell. The bastard magnetized your Crescent Rose to strike you with honest to god lighting. You're lucky that your weapon shouldered most of the shock and misfired as a result, redirecting the electricity. Your current ammo clip might be shot though. It probably set off all the priming Dust for the Dust bullets inside."

She grit her teeth in pain as I made a small incision in her side.

"What are you doing?!"

"I scanned you with my aura. A bunch of your blood's hemoglobin's iron atoms have magnetized, causing blocks of blood to solidify. If I leave that in there, you'll suffer a stroke if it reaches your brain. I'm pumping my aura through your system to facilitate your blood regeneration to match the rate of bleeding, but I'm going to have to bleed you out a lot until I'm positive I got rid of all the clumps."

Doing something this precise required an incredible amount of control. Control that I didn't have, but for five minutes I drew out my wings at high levels of power, emitting healing rays as they enveloped us both, exhausting myself so that by having less aura, I could gain the control required.

"...I'm done."

I collapsed into the pool of blood, the sticky warm fluid staining my white armor and clothing and matting my hair.

"Ugh… how did the lightning fracture my ribs?" Ruby moaned weakly next to me as she got up, tenderly nursing her sides.

"The ribs were me. I had to force your blood to pump through your body and I kick started your heart with aura. Yang should have started CPR as soon as you fell through, but she freaked out. I really got here just in time to save you before your brain died of oxygen deprivation."

She wiped her clothes with a damp rag before handing me one too.

I tried to get up, but I slipped and fell.

"Jeez… I bled out that much?... How did I survive?..."

We had been in the basement as Ruby had fallen through three floors, Yang luckily catching her before she cracked her skull on the basement's concrete floor. The whole place was filled with a half inch of blood coating the 13 by 12 foot floor space.

"You probably were coming in and out of consciousness through the pain. I forced your bone marrows into overdrive to replenish your blood. You're going to have to take five days worth of vitamin supplements today and tomorrow just to help bring them to your normal condition."

I slipped as I tried to get up, a giggle coming from Ruby's lips.

"You should, erm. You should cover up by the way. I needed skin contact to make the forced heart contractions work with my aura without destroying your cardio vascular tissues."

"My what?"

"Just cover up!" I blushed, through I was sure that the blood on my cheeks was enough to hide my embarrassment.

Ruby squeaked as she looked down at her chest, seeing that even her upper undergarment had been torn aside in my desperation to save her. Seeing an old chest filled with clothes, she quickly grabbed an outfit before disappearing behind a mass of wooden storage crates to change into a change of clothing.

A minute later, a blushing Ruby walked back out, wearing a black china dress with gold trimmings under her usual cloak which had already self-cleaned itself, the Dust infusions working their mysterious magic.

"Thanks for, you know, saving me."

I smiled tiredly as I wiped some of the blood off my own clothes. My entire back had been soaked when I collapsed out of exhaustion.

"Don't worry about it. It's Yang you should thank, I wouldn't have been able to heal you if she hadn't dove in after you immediately. I'm surprised she managed to catch you at all. All of us were blinded for a few seconds by the lighting. She was pretty beat up when she left. I think she grabbed you and broke your fall with her body."

"That sounds like Yang alright." Ruby smiled.

I grinned back before pulling her close to me, I flew into the air. Ruby's arm grabbing Crescent Rose as we rose into the sky. Yang was raging into a new enemy, a seven foot tall tank of fat and muscle, laying into him with a vengeance, as she kept him afloat with nothing but her brute strength, Ember Cecilia looking as if they had run on empty.

The green haired Dust caster was embedded into the wall of a nearby building and Weiss was tending to Blake who appeared to have dislocated her right wrist at the least if the swelling was any indication.

"Let's help your sister, eh?"

"Way ahead of you!" Ruby pushed away from me, reloading Crescent Rose in the air, firing it to propel herself towards her sister.

I chuckled, about to follow before seeing three people approach the shop.

"Not again! Where are these guys coming from?!"

I landed in front of the figures in full armor, only to stand in shock.

"What the hell are you doing here, Kastil?"

The upperclassman scratched at his head with his right arm.

"You guys are on the news right now, didn't you see the Dustcopters buzzing about? They've been here since you guys were dealing with practically a whole little army of thugs. Ozpin sent out four teams just to support you guys by dealing with their drop off points. I'm here to help. No need to be edgy. This is above your pay grade. Ol' Ozpin's bumped this up to an A Rank because of the political factors involved. You guys are approved for C Ranks. Congrats."

"I don't want a fucking pat on the back! Ruby almost died, or did you not see that on the goddamn news too?!"

"Shut up and stop being a brat. We're Hunters. This is a part of the job to expect death. Unlike you I've actually lost a teammate on a mission, my own twin sister died. Don't try to talk down to me. You're angry? Sure, that's cool. I totally feel you, brat, but this isn't class where you can bitch about a grade. I've brought my other two teammates, Titania and Lunalesca. Luna here's gonna heal up all your Clanmates and make sure that you didn't mess up in healing Ruby."

Luna smiled, bowing, slightly. She was dressed in a purple pleated, flower-patterned hakama-esque dress that cut off just above her knees, black boots layered with buckles, a black spaghetti-string camisole under a white sash that wrapped around her neck and over her chest. A patterned, yellow obi with a ornate, Eastern knot and a decorative assorted charms clinched the cords, definitely also of Easter origin. Two separate,kimono sleeves completed the ensemble, held in place on her arms by tightened ribbons.

Two holsters dangled somehow elegantly from her hips, the straps holding them in place hidden under her obi and a halberd with an elegant dragon head as a blade protruded from the tip, made out of Dust crystal fused with metal, the alloy rippled like water, light from the blade shimmering over her short, shoulder length brown hair.

"I shall endeavor to help your friends the best I can." her heterochromic green and blue eyes gently admonished me for my rash behaviour, making me feel like when I was three and broke into the cookie jar.

"See, we're all friends here." Kastil chuckled as gave Lunalesca a kiss on the cheek, the girl smiling happily as she ran off with a Dust and aura empowered leap into the air, a glyph appearing and fading as quickly as it formed, speaking volumes about her incredible skill. "A shame she wears spats under that thing, I'm telling you. Just imagine if that was a thong right there…"

His musings were interrupted by the serious looking redhead next to him, her long hair reaching down to her hips as well polished yet worn plate armor shone over a long sleeve black shirt and like Pyrrah reached up from her feet to her upper thighs, but overall showed decidedly less skin.

While Pyrrah's family required by tradition to reveal a certain amount of skin for the eventual attraction of suitors which is what resulted in her daringly revealing neckline of her armor and the neckguard giving emphasis to the petiteness of her neck and the delicate collar bones that were revealed by her skin's curvature, Titania's were more like that of a full blown knight, obviously having much less care about such things, but as Kastil kissing her for her jealousy revealed, she likely wore a skirt just for him.

Ignoring the likely complexity of the trio's relationship, I met up with the rest of Ala Alba as the Vale Police Department gathered to help protect the shop and their ordered purchase and other squads from Beacon came to relieve us so that we could all get checked up and get some proper rest.

It wouldn't do us all well to be forced to keep running on fumes, especially after one of our own had been so critically injured. Tennyson lent Ruby the china dress, as it belonged to his wife who after a quick phone call revealed she had no problems with lending a childhood outfit to one of the girls that helped defend her home from hundreds of sleazy criminals.

Ruby and Maka who had become friends over the past few days also exchanged contact information and Ruby told her to look up her uncle Qrow, who was apparently more like a great-great uncle who was still somehow in great fighting form, if she really wanted to learn about using a scythe at Beacon.

There was some cause for concern about all the blood in the basement, but we were told that Tennyson would just order a few D Rank missions for its clean up. Yang wasn't too happy that Ruby had to bleed out so much, but after both Lunalesca and I reassured her that her younger sister would be fine and that she needed to let us treat her injuries, instead of just holding the poor younger girl to her chest, she reluctantly agreed.

Ruby swore that she'd never felt more thankful for air.

Apparently Pyrrah and Titania were actually cousins, their mothers having been sisters, though the upperclassman's mother had run off with a man not approved by the family, leading the older girl to not having been raised with as much of the traditional rules.

We were back home to see ourselves push away news reporters on the night time special news bulletin.

What we didn't know: people were so on edge so that every time a major news bulletin came online through the Dust-net they would be either recorded or would set of a small alarm indicating for them to watch the news.

We were bombarded by challenges when we woke up on Sunday.

We also saw a huge influx in fansites and numbers.

Woe be Ala Alba.

End

AN2: Don't hate me! I wouldn't _kill_ off Ruby, I'm not stupid.

Ruby took it fairly well though, but Yang didn't. Oh, how will this affect team dynamics now?... BWAH HA HA HA!


	12. Waiting for the Hunter's Fair

AN: Got my girlfriend hooked on RWBY. Awwwwwww yeaaaaaaaaah. #ThugLife #SexyTimeJK lolol no not really

She is definitely interested in RWBY though.

Begin

"Yang! Seriously! Stop mothering me! I'm not gonna drop dead after sparring with Nora!"

"I can't help it! Even if Nora wouldn't ever hurt you for real, she uses plasma and _lightning_! Can't you have at least the smallest bit of consideration here?"

"For what?! I was the one who had her heart stop!"

"Don't talk about that so lightly to begin with!"

"I'm not nine years old anymore! I need to train so that doesn't happen again!"

"You're still supposed to be resting! Even Jaune said so!"

"First, it's been a week! Second, stop bringing Jaune into everything! Wouldn't it be more important to say that the med bay told me not to train excessively?"

"They did! But you're less likely to listen to them!"

"I'm not training excessively! You sound just like dad!"

"JAUNE!" they both yelled at they turned to me "TELL HER TO LISTEN TO ME!"

"Uh…"

What did I just walk into?

"This is ridiculous. I've come to accept that Ruby will still have childish fits every once in awhile, I've reluctantly come to terms with that to be a fact that I must accept. But I didn't expect this from you, Yang." Weiss blew on her nails, drying her manicure more quickly with a little extra aura. "If you really don't want her to get in a state like that training to overcome the things she's lost to will only make her better."

"Weiss! I knew you loved me!" Ruby leapt to hug her partner, only for the girl to dodge hurriedly before pushing her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose, still sitting on her lawn chair and soaking up sun in a white tank top and frilly shorts that cut off a bit higher than mid thigh.

"Don't misunderstand me or anything. You've been working hard trying to be a leader and even though I still have some inhibitions, I can respect that. This doesn't suddenly make us friends who share… _physical_ moments."

"You'll hug me one day and you'll enjoy it!"

Nora launched across the garden like a pink and white blur as she glomped Ruby, the two rolling in the grass giggling.

"Nora will hug you!"

Ruby giggled happily as the older girl, debatable when considering mentality at certain moments, swung her around.

Yang groaned as she sat down in the grass before laying flat on her back.

"When did my little sister grow up so fast?"

I sat down next to her with a soft smile.

"That's life, I guess. It's definitely better that she wants to overcome this rather than living the rest of her days fearing it to her core. She's a lot stronger than she looks, if not in body, then in heart. Even Weiss is warming up to her… well, she respects her strength if anything. Or her hard-headedness, at least. One or the other. Blake is just naturally trusting to an extent and thinks chain of command's important so she's gone along with her crazy moments as well as her intellectual decisions. I think maybe you're so used to her being your younger sister that now that she's in charge of you, you can't help but to worry."

"...I keep telling stuff like that to myself, but I worry anyways. She's been with me since she was seven and until I left for Signal she used to always follow me around. She was the cutest thing…"

Yang sighed closing her eyes.

She smiled as Ruby and Nora tackled into Blake who was reading a book, the the third girl looking quite surprised as she toppled into the pool, her hardcover, leather bound book luckily flying through the air and landing in a patch of grass.

"She's still as incredibly and rediculously adorable as ever, but jeez… everything seems upside down this year."

I laughed, falling back as well.

"I know the feeling. This is all pretty crazy, eh? It's hard to believe that tomorrow we'll be going to all of our boring old classes like nothing happened yesterday."

"It is a bit surreal, isn't it?" Ren called to us up from the branches of the large cherry tree above us to our left, munching on an apple, eyes contrasting to pink of the cherry blossoms.

He had a small bucket next to him on the tree hanging off a separate branch that had cherry blossom pollen. Had. It was empty now after he had scattered the pollen everywhere on the tree blossoms and limbs. Apparently cherry trees cannot self-pollinate, a fact that I did not know. Also it was much better to gain pollen from a completely different type of cherry tree, or something along the lines. As interested as I was in herbology, I only really had knowledge on medicinal plants and herbs as well as recognizing edible foods. It was Kastil that told Ren about the information and my somewhat stoic teammate had decided that if we were going to have a cherry tree, we would have to have cherries as well, or cleaning the yard of cherry blossoms would be pointless.

A lot of us had given him knowing grins when Nora, seeing the tree being pollinated that morning, squealed about how she loved cherries, and that her favorite uncle owned vineyard and orchard in the agricultural district and she loved visiting during harvest season for free cherries.

He didn't look us in the eye for an hour.

I do wonder why Nora, considering that she probably knew all this beforehand, didn't tell us earlier when we first found that we had only one cherry tree.

Then again, it's Nora.

Who knows what goes through her head half the time?

Below Ren was Pyrrah wearing loose black shorts and a overly large maroon shirt, she had lain out a tarp on the grass by the tree roots, and was doing weapon maintenance on Milo, having disassembled her weapon, cleaning individual parts and making notes on a piece of paper what she would have to replace soon.

"I still feel the rush of the battlefield, although shooting down dozens of poorly trained men barely feels like a true battle. The official report states at least seven hundred, which must mean approximately a fifth of the underworld's dumb muscle." She began reassembling her weapon in hunting rifle form, finishing the action as Blake crabbily got out of the water, Weiss holding out a towel for the poor bibliophile.

Blake pulled the towel over her head taking a long while to dry her hair, dashing away from Nora who wanted to see the girl without her bow on.

She had more chance winning the lottery with half of a ticket.

"The novelty of blasting and freezing dozens of people gets old really quickly, I agree. We couldn't even do anything but attack from a distance because even though one of us are worth a hundred of those peons, we would have most certainly been mobbed." Weiss contemplated a sunhat next to her, before letting it flop on the ground, leaving her hair up.

She then took a sip from a fruity drink next to her.

"Is that a crazy straw?" Ruby giggled. "I haven't seen one since I was in my first year of Signal."

"That was about a year and a half ago for you then, isn't it? That actually isn't that long ago. I think somehow you forget that you're younger than us sometimes. Besides, it's not even mine."

"Whose is it then?"

"I thought it was Nora's."

"Nope!" The perky valkyrie splashed Ruby, getting a small wave back.

"Who does it belong to then?" Weiss took another sip.

I raised my hand tentatively and she choked a little.

"Sorry. I saw it at the student supply store and, well, I've always kinda wanted one, so…"

"Tell us these kinds of things beforehand, idiot!" Weiss growled, obviously embarrassed that she had used my straw. If it's so embarrassing then don't use the darn straw in the first place!

"Do you remember all the random little things that you buy? I mean, I do because I don't really buy things that often, but I'm pretty self-sufficient to begin with so I'm a bad example."

Weiss grumbled as she put her drink to the side, plucking out a little umbrella that had been stuck in the ice of the drink, suddenly finding great fascination in the toy sized bauble.

"So… the first monthly Hunter's Fair starts in two days and lasts until Saturday. We draw lots tomorrow and find out whether or not we got roped into a special event, right? What are you guys hoping you'll get?" Yang asked, changing the suddenly awkward atmosphere as well as trying to cheer herself out of her funk.

"I'd like to try one of the Colosseum events, special or not." Pyrrah switched Milo from rifle to sword before putting it down. "A no holds barred, one on one contest does seem like a lot of fun to participate in. I would like to see how I hold against an upperclassman as well."

"Oooh, that does sound like fun. I'm more excited for the victor's banquet after the fair. I love my battle outfits, but I like dressing up every once in awhile too." Yang grinned, suddenly leaning closer to me with a teasing grin.

"...You've got sakura petals in your hair again, Yang." I brushed the pink petals from her hair, brushing her hair back as I did so. "There, much better."

"...You're seriously gonna make me fall for ya, you know…"

"I'm what?"

Yang got up, laughing lightly before pushing me back gently, making me topple over.

"No~thing~" she giggled as she walked away into the Clan Hall.

My eyes were _not_ involuntarily drawn to the sway in her hips.

They were _not_.

"What'd she push me for?" I got back up.

There was the sound of a rifle cocking and I looked over to see Pyrrah with a scary, fake, strained smile on her face.

"Is there, uh, is there a problem with your gun, Pyrrah?"

"No, no. Not more than a problem, perhaps, with what it _isn't_ doing to _someone_ right now, I suppose. I really should get some shooting practice in. I feel that I've been _neglecting_ that a bit."

"So you want to head to the shooting range? How about I go with you? I've done some serious tweaking to my guns after we got back to Beacon yesterday night! It's a total overhaul! I've even come around to naming them and I wanted to check how I've done with it." I smiled getting up and grabbing Pyrrah's hand, pulling her to her feet excitedly.

Maybe just a bit too hard as she fell forward into my chest.

"Ah sorry. That must have been uncomfortable. I'm a bit sweaty too. I think I'll change, maybe. I've noticed that we all tend to do that before we actually go out anywhere, well, you girls anyways, so while I change, you can too. You going out wearing my spare clothes will probably cause misunderstandings, right?"

I ducked as a paper umbrella flew at my head as if it was a bullet.

"Wait. Pyrrah was wearing your clothes for the whole two hours she went cleaning each and every one of her pieces of equipment and filled five clips full of Dust rounds? As well as her spare armor and shield?"

Weiss glared over her designer shades.

Her fingers were now stroking the crazy straw contemplatively.

"Uhm, that is…"

"Pray tell, what happened to the clothes that the rest of us helped you pick up on Wednesday when all of us girls went shopping for supplies?" Weiss questioned with a little bossiness as she glanced over her nails again, as if something went wrong with how it had been applied or dried.

She certainly seemed irritated enough.

"It seemed such a terrible waste to wear them when I was doing something so messy that-"

"Didn't we get you clothes that you could get dirty without worrying?" Blake had stopped drying her hair and running from Nora as a result, that bow in its eternal position atop her hair.

I swear I see it twitch sometimes. Am I crazy? That's like the third time this week that I swear I've seen it twitch.

How does it stand up after getting wet anyways?

"Well, that's… I'M SORRY!" She suddenly bowed, looking really nervous, "I accidentally washed the colors with the whites most of my clothes got ruined! I'm really sorry!"

"Gah! I have that problem too!" Ruby groaned as she wrapped a towel around her small frame. She had gotten out shortly into her small waterfight with Nora, as the larger and more powerful girl started to capsize her with waves. "It's not your fault, but an unfair part of me wants to get mad at you…"

"She still could have asked us for spare clothing." Weiss huffed, pulling the shades from her face as she chewed daintily at the end of the sunglass frame.

"Pyrrah only fits in Yang's clothes though, and she was out nagging at Ruby earlier today, right?" Nora questioned, now on the branch next to Ren and stealing a bite of his apple.

Ruby and Weiss both made slightly bitter faces at that statement, the latter more than the former. Blake just sighed as she dried herself off further.

I patted Pyrrah's head, doing my best to be reassuring.

"It's ok, it happens to the best of us. But really, outside of battle, you can be surprisingly clumsy, huh?" I laughed at her embarrassment as she half shrunk into herself, "Next time I'll help you with the laundry, I mean, we're partners, right?"

"She really is the final boss." Ruby gave me an irritated look as she puckered her lips into a pout. "But putting that aside, guys aren't supposed to do girl's laundry. What happens when you have to deal with, you know, their underwear?"

"...You wash it?"

"NO!" came multiple and somewhat embarrassed voices.

"Ok, ok! No need to yell. I just wanted to go to the shooting range, but whenever I go alone I get mobbed by people I don't know who want to talk to me. I get so lost that I can't even say hello before I run away."

"I know." Ren laughed as he fed Nora another bite of apple. "The other girls in class are saying that you're like a skittish colt. They think it's cute."

"I can't help it if they make me feel like running! And cute? I'm scared for my life and I don't know why! My instincts fly into overdrive half the time and I've almost summoned my armor more than once. I know how the rabbits that I used to hunt in the village feel like now! I can't even have small game birds without a guilty conscious right now! It feels like some sort of twisted cannibalism! I wanna be able eat quail again without crying!"

A lot of snickering and snide comments directed at me later, all of Ala Alba left for and arrived at the shooting ranges, paying a small fee for the use of targets as well as ammo which we would have to load into the empty clips that we brought.

Yang had insisted on joining, forcing me to piggyback her for a bit before the others pulled her off. Blake and I were discussing a book she had lent me about a world of demigods hidden within the real world of Vytal.

We chose an indoor range where the maximum distance we could fire to was 200 meters, which was pretty ridiculous to begin with, but the shooting ranges were made to double as a shelter in emergencies, especially as it was connected to one of the armories so that should Beacon somehow come under attack we could defend it as a strategic position.

I pulled out my new guns with a flourish.

The Dust crystal blades stayed as the always had been, although set into a Dust infused metal base that lengthened the blade to almost double what it already was. The barrels had become more rectangular and elongated as now bullets fed into the chamber by magazines set in front of the triggers themselves, as a inner runic Dust glyph chamber had been added that with the addition of my aura would not only empower and fire bullets at a higher velocity, but also add different effects to them.

As awesome as this was, the knife-gun was now redesigned to act as overly large bladed pistols as a result. Ren was teaching me how to better use them in combat in return for touching up his Jade Dragons in a similar way by the inscription of Dust runic sequences and glyphs in his weapons as well.

As he didn't want to alter the guns entirely, only so much could be done, so at the most he could fire was trick bullets that would have unexpected effects for those who didn't know about them.

However although it could not become a pair of knives anymore, I could now fuse them to create an assault rifle by keeping and modifying the original mechanism to turn the pistols into hunting knives, and modifying the pistol grips which used to hold ammo clips to double as scopes.

One was now a solid black gunmetal with a red cross crystal on the side of the barrel and the other was stained a ceramic white with a green cross. Judgement and Order.

"Tada! Don't they look awesome?!"

"Whoa! There's no way you can use that effectively as knives anymore, but it's so cool that I don't even care!" Ruby squealed in joy as she plucked the black Judgement from my hand, turning it around in her hands.

"Isn't it?! And give that back let me show you something."

I flicked Judgement, the barrel of the gun pivoting to allow the grip to fold up and then parallel to the iron sights, before affixing it to the barrel of Order, like a souped up silencer.

Only that with Judgement before Order, the glyphs in Judgement's secondary chamber enabled a good velocity increase even with a rapid fire of bullets, making an assault rifle. But should it be Order before Judgement, it became a sniper rifle as it was better for one shot at a time, but with much more power, velocity, and accuracy.

Ruby and I went nuts talking over the new system as I revealed the modified crystal blades could detach and meld with the the blade on the other forefront of the fusion rifle, allowing the use of a large bayonet as a weapon as well as some Dust spell casting.

"What do you guys all think?" I asked after firing at targets in both modes.

"That was surprisingly simple in appearance for something that you designed in such a complex manner." Weiss took the Judgement Rifle from my hands as she studied the weapon. "And it doesn't seem to reject my aura, although most weapons nowadays have a one user interface for safety reasons."

"Oh, I attuned it for everybody in Ala Alba to be able to use in case of emergencies. I mean, Judgement and Order are kind of already all-purpose weapons to begin with even considering how crazy the recoil can be, but it never hurts to have extra back up plans, right?"

"I've never heard of a weapon with a user lock that codes for multiple people! Lemme see that again, Weiss!"

"Not while you're panting like a danger to society."

Nora giggled as she hugged Ren from behind who was fiddling with his Jade Dragons Mk II, trying to get the feel of them again now that our modifications were complete.

"Ren, lookie, Ruby's drooling!"

"I do not drool! I'm just… you know… appreciating the finer points of, er, pointy objects?"

"Way to make that sound totally convincing, little sis." Yang chuckled. She looked like she wanted to pull the weapon from Ruby's hands, but she managed to restrain herself.

Remembering that her sister had her rights to bear arms would still take time.

Pyrrah took some shots with the Order sniper, her aim going a bit off.

"There's some problem with the recoil though. There's a powerful kick, but I can't shoulder the recoil at all. The gun doesn't have a stock or butt to press against my shoulder."

"Ah. I've never quite had that be a problem, so I've never thought of it. That and I've never used a rifle of any sorts either. Ruby's didn't have one so I've never put much thought into that."

Drawing Crescent Rose in its sniping shotgunesque form, Ruby fired twice into a target, hitting the head and shoulder.

"I have a butt to rest my shoulder on, but I don't actually need to use it. I actually have better accuracy when I hip-fire and my HCSS doesn't have a standard firing mechanism. That and the weight of Crescent Rose is enough to compensate naturally. Why do you think I use the kickback from the sniper firing to cut things? My sweetheart's gorgeous, but she _can_ be a _bit_ heavy set."

"I've never had a high accuracy, but this level of recoil's never been so bad for me." I admitted as I too took some shots with the Order sniper. Three shots landed in a rather close proximity to the heart making a near perfect equilateral triangle. The fourth went a bit wide, only sinking into the target's shoulder. "I just take in all the recoil with my arms."

"Its incredibly difficult to do that without losing accuracy." Blake fired Gambol Shroud in its scythe-pistol form, sinking bullet after bullet into the target. "And you're still using your .50 BGM Dust rounds, for that new sniper of yours. I still think you're crazy for using those. They're expensive too, even if you use the elementless gray Dust crystals as the bullets, the sheer size and number together must cost a small fortune. Your payment for borrowing bullets cost most out of all of ours."

"I'm helping Weiss with a couple of projects for her induction into the Schnee company in the future for discounts on Dust and crystal as well as some light pocket money. I don't like the thought of being paid by friends, but she kind of insisted after I raised the output and control of Myrtenaster by 17%. I like handloading the BGM rounds anyways. They're so powerful that I like leaving my personal marks on _all_ of them. It's like showing my way of love towards the enemy~ fu fu fu…"

Everybody turned to look at me with some wide eyes.

I had slowly been becoming a bit more of a combat junkie as I trained with Yang in CQC as well as being forced to spar with Sovenar now that we were in the same group for Combat Intensive since I needed to be able to use my armor longer without tiring and it's hard for Sov to find a partner that he can fight without scattering over his fists.

Not that he didn't crack the hell out of my aura armor though. Lucky that's easily fixed. However my strange moments of unfamiliar intenseness during combat sometimes got me some strange looks. Apparently it was never the same every time I got focused in battle.

"What? Is there something on my face?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Weiss pulled the other girls into a huddle.

"I have the strangest urge to challenge him to a bout… and then lose…"

"I understand what you mean, Pyrrah. This _is_ new. Not bad, but _new_."

"Sis! Don't be mean! I can kinda see how they're brothers now though. Just a bit. They both have those strange moment of sadism on occasion."

"Oh, that's right! You had an interview with Ozpin, right?"

"I think its a bit strange how after seeing the S side of him we're all reacting oddly to it. I don't think most of us are the M type. Well, maybe Yang." Blake mused as she was pulled in by her blonde partner, twisting to avoid being headlocked.

"How the heck am I an M?!"

"You tease a lot, but I can totally see it being turned around on you."

"Stop reading your smutty novels! They're rotting your brain!"

"I-I'll have you know that it was just one time!"

"Oh? Then not only _Ninj-_mphgh!"

"I'll choke you with Gambol Shroud. I don't like the thought that you might enjoy something like that, but I swear I'll do it."

"PMGhrRAh! What kind of freak do you think I am?!"

What?... I don't… Huh?

Ruby caught my eye and she smiled apologetically to me, she was wearing lip balm because it was getting colder and she didn't want to end up with cracked lips. The glistening coating caught the artificial light of the shooting range and I stared for a bit as her cute pink lips curled into a little smile.

She flushed and turned away from me noticing how intensely I must have been looking at her and at the realization that what I did wasn't socially acceptable, I turned away as well with a blush of embarrassment at my social ineptitude.

I've recently become attentive at strange little things.

Such as the texture of skin, the curvature and stature of bodies, the protrusions of elegant and delicate bone seen through skin such as the collarbones, the differences the way hair is treated, the scents of the various shampoos and soaps that are preferred.

Each of those things and more for females, predominantly.

And mostly from our clan.

I'm well past puberty, but I've read some informational books involving such things, and noticing things like that should have been natural to me years ago, but I was pretty isolated then.

I decided not to think too deeply about it. It wasn't like it was interfering with clan dynamics, anyways. If it came to that point I could ask for help about it. I mean everybody else had to have gone through something similar, right?

So, yeah. As awesome as my new Judgement and Order systems came out, I was the only one that could really use it well. Though Yang and Ruby seemed to enjoy using the Order sniper like it was a shotgun. I mean, ok. It looks a lot more like a shotgun than a rifle of any sort, but the deception is part of the design choice. Ah, well, sisters to the end, I suppose.

After a half hour of range practice, Weiss even trying to handle Judgement as a pistol, but utterly failing, much to Ruby and Blake's amusement.

Then the campus wide announcement alarm rang.

"Will Jaune D'Arc of Team JNPR please report to the headmaster's office? I repeat will Jaune D'Arc report to the headmaster's office? Professor Ozpin states that should Mr D'Arc not appear in the next ten minutes he will read aloud Mr D'Arc's Journal from three years ago. Specifically the first week of September. Thank you."

"...He knows… Somehow he knows I'm on the other side of campus… OZPIN! YOU GIANT FRUIT BAT!"

I apologized to my friends before running off, using my momentum to fly into the sky so I could head to Ozpin in a straight line.

You know what? Screw him.

I'm going to crash through his goddamn window.

End

AN2: Not much to say here, but things are gonna get fun again. I can only wait for the chaos.


	13. Temporary Confrontation

AN: Back in school! Again… freaking college… AND I WAS RIGHT! Team CRDL was a group of assholes! Now I can start Cardin bashing with a clean conscience ha ha

RWBY Quote of the Week: "Let's break his legs!"

Begin

The door opened and Ozpin walked through, mug of coffee in one hand, his signature cane in the other.

"Did you really have to break the window? Not that I particularly mind. To think you used to be such a good child…"

"I don't want to hear that from you."

I turned my head away from him as I leaned back in my chair, my feet propped up on the table.

The white haired fruit loop just smiled before tapping the wall with the merest hint of aura, the comfy leather chair suddenly tossing me forward.

I flipped landing on my feet before lashing at Ozpin with a spinning heel kick which he leaned away from, sipping on his brown beverage that I wished would suddenly transmutate into manure in his mouth.

Blocking my reverse elbow jab with his cane, he hooked my arm with it, twisting his weapon of choice in his hand, dislocating my arm and sending me crashing into the marble walls, various trinkets and curiosos falling on me from the shelves above.

"You sonuva-" I winced, hissing as a globe of Vytal crashed into my injured shoulder.

"Language, foolish little brother. Language."

I forced my shoulder back into place, cringing as I did so.

Have you ever done that? I don't think so, it isn't really one of those things you should be doing for fun. It hurts. It hurts a lot. A lot, as in: if you could give pain a color, that pain could be measured in every shade of skittles and you would taste the rainbow. That level of a lot.

"How the hell did you find my old journal anyways? When _that_ Grimm attacked, it was my home that burned first. You didn't appear until it left me for dead and disappeared."

Ozpin took another sip as he walked to his desk, ignoring my pain. Righting a paperweight in the shape of some famous statue, he brushed some glass off the table.

"I believe you mean _our_ home."

"No. _My_ home. I was the only one left in our family that lived in that house. You left on your own fourteen years ago to do Dust knows what and when the village burned you appeared like the shittiest prodigal son ever. The Headmaster for Huntsmen my ass. You couldn't even save someplace you claim is your _home_."

The white haired bastard smirked at me over his shoulder.

"Home is home. Even if I never considered it as such personally. It's still the place where I was born. Unlike you, I had no attachments to such a pitiful place. That and our mother died long ago. I felt no need to return after hearing the news from my step-father. I no longer had anything to hold me back."

He sipped from his damnable mug.

"Well, except, I suppose, my cute little brother."

"You grew up in the village! Are you still giving me this crap about mom dying?! You never even came to visit her grave! I waited two months for you to at least come by after your stupid letter! No matter where in Vale you were even if you were walking on your feet you could have seen her! You can hate dad all you want, but disrespecting mom?! I'll kill you!"

My armored aura gauntlet burst at him in an angry black.

"You'll kill me? Well that's quite the lofty goal." The armor shattered with a small Dust glyph that Ozpin used as a shield, sending me flying back into his office wall. "You're talented, I'll give you that, but as you are, you lack the power to kill me. Though you certainly don't lack hatred of me, you've grown surprisingly softer. Even before you arrived at Beacon and met your Clan."

I growled as Ozpin.

"Shut up. I've become stronger with them than I did in two years alone. There's strength in bonds."

"Of course. Why do you think Beacon implements a Team system? The Clan system isn't new, either. It was just scrapped when stronger Teams began bullying and oppressing weaker ones with it."

I frowned.

"Why the hell did you reinstate it then?"

"Because I felt like it."

"You're so half-assed that I remember you being like this when I was three. You haven't changed at all either. What did you call me for?"

Ozpin gave me one of his usual smirks of satisfaction.

"Other than the fun of our interactions? To congratulate you, I suppose. Approval for C Ranks is a big deal. Knowing how you react around me, I thought it best that your dear friend and fellow leader Ruby Rose not see your anger. That and I find I never tire of your angry face. It grows on you. Like a fungus you come to love."

I threw one of his stupid plaques in irritation and he ducked slightly before righting his glasses with his mug. Then taking another swift sip.

"Screw you."

"Now, now. Don't go expressing your brother complex."

"Like Nevermore droppings I do! You're the one that put all of my childhood photos up on the Dustnet! If I somehow have a brother complex, your's is a hundred times worse!"

"Ah see? Isn't it easier to just admit to it?"

Another shiny trinket flew past his ear, falling out the window as Ozpin sat on the edge of his fancy mahogany desk. A surprised screech was heard from below.

"If I could, I would drown you with that coffee you like so damned much."

"I'm afraid I'd drink it all before I'll run out of air. I do enjoy my beverages."

I wonder if you'd enjoy it if I let a Beowolf take a dump in your coffee.

"Why did you call me here? There's no way that this enough of a reason, even psychopaths like you."

"Such cruel words. You'll make your poor big brother cry."

"We might as well not be related."

"My, my. What a terrible thing to say? Oh, mother, if only you saw your younger son now."

I want to shoot him.

I want to shoot him so badly that his reproductive organs are separated from his body and fly into the air before landing in his throat.

But he can block it, there's no point in wasting hard earned Lien.

Dammit.

"Just get to the point."

"Well, if you insist." Ozpin smiled. "I want to know about your romantic aspirations."

"Wha? I thought you were going to get to the point. What's with that question?"

"I'm simply curious. With your current predicament, it really isn't a bad question to ask."

"...Are you playing mind games with me again? You know that only works if I understand a part of it to begin with, right?"

"Hmmm. Interesting… I've decided then."

I got a baaaad feeling about this…

"I'm going to use you as a privilege prize, since knowing you, you likely don't have a date to the ball at the end of the Hunter's Fair. I've got some fun ideas and I plan to move a few events around to make it work. A fresh twist to some ideas that I once thought up of out of fancy. It's a good thing that the Valentinian Order required you to learn ballroom manners and dancing. Finding good teachers for something like that on such short notice is irritating at best."

"I am not your toy."

"No, you're not. You're my younger brother and my ward until you either graduate from Beacon or turn twenty. That makes you the equivalency of a stray dog I've picked up and neutered. I believe that teenagers these days call it 'you're my bitch'?"

"...That was terrible. I hate you and as much as I like seeing the few moments where you make a fool of yourself, that was really bad. Don't do that again. You sound like you're fifty, not twenty eight."

"Doesn't matter. As if I cared what others though in the first place." Ozpin waved me off before tossing me a large envelope, sealed shut. "That's for your Clan's special event. I'll be nice and give it to you a day early."

"So people can complain about unfair treatment?"

Ozpin gave me a look.

"This is Beacon. The strong thrive and grow. The weak are culled and the diamonds hidden in the rough are found and polished. That is my job as Headmaster: the facilitation of this natural process. I care little for accusations of the weak. Neither should you."

"I don't believe that. Especially if that's your belief." I turned to leave.

"Your Clan won't be receiving a second copy of that file. Take it or you'll suffer in the long run."

I stomped out the door, file in hand, before slamming it as hard as could against the frame.

Why are people in positions of power always assholes?

The headmaster's office was not far from the East Lots where the Clan Halls and Dorms were, so I could avoid talking to people while being in a crummy mood. Weiss said that appearances were important and so we should be examples to lead by or something, so I've been listening to her as much as I could follow.

If her desire to pull me into helping her overtake her family's company is any indication, then I'll be dragged into high-class society, it seems. Which is a pain, but Weiss is a friend, so I guess I'll just have to live with it.

Hefting the file in my hand I arrived at the Clan Hall and opened the door with a small application of aura.

"I'm baaaack."

"Jaune! Ruby stole my pudding!" Nora slung across my shoulders before landing in Ren's arms. Ren had been walking down one of the stairs leading from the second floor not far from the door. "Ren! Help Jaune get my pudding back!"

"You can always have another pudding." Ren put the energetic girl down who promptly sat on his feet, pouting.

"It was my pudding and I was saving it! Ruby already has her cookies!"

"It didn't have anybody's name on it! I thought it was one of the snacks we buy for the whole clan. We agreed to do that with personal snacks in the fridge!" Ruby apologized, trying to placate her with a lollipop.

"I had Ren put a note next to it! It should have been there! Reeeeeeen!" The orange haired girl pouted further, turning away from the offered candy.

She whined, rocking on her partner's feet, curled up looking to all the world like a large pouting pillbug.

"Nora. I'll get you one tomorrow. You can go one day without pudding."

"But today's Sunday! Sunday's my pudding day!"

"Ruby, do be careful with pudding next time?" Ren asked the small red riding hood. "Remember when Cardin tried to steal Nora's fudge the first week?"

"Ugh." Yang came by with her hair wrapped up in a ridiculously tall towel wrap protecting her lush hair, "Didn't the guy lose like four teeth? The medics had to regrow them out of his jaw, right?"

"I'll do it again for free! Nobody touches my fudge!"

"At least CRDL doesn't try to mess with us past the Clan challenging. Cardin actually looked pretty relieved that we weren't looking for an actual fight when we had the food fight with them." I laughed as Yang shuddered, remembering the food fight that had followed. "And on the topic of our Clan, I've got the packet saying what events in the Hunter's Fair is mandatory for who. Ozpin was being his usual dingbat self. We got it a day early because he wanted to get in my head and screw with me again."

Walking over to the dining room table, I slapped the file down. Nora, Ruby, and Yang headed over to the file, Yang being the one to snatch it up and open it. Blake looked up from the book she was reading, as she sat just two chairs over from the file of papers. Weiss was nowhere to be found, but Ren gave me a look of appreciation for distracting Nora from her sugar crisis.

I gave him a grin, before heading to the refrigerator to grab a freeze Dust pack for my shoulder.

Just because I popped it back into place and healed it up with aura doesn't mean that it won't be sore and painful.

"Oooh! Pyrrah's been seeded for the Grimm Gladiatorial Event! Blake has to join the event as well, but she hasn't been seeded." Ruby read excitedly.

"I'm in the Gladiatorial Event! How marvelous!"

We turned to see the red haired Huntress to be leaning over the railing of second floor dressed in her traditional maroon grecian robes which acted has her pyjamas. However, it was designed to have a loose fit and was worn without undergarments and so although it cut off just above the knee, it bared a lot more thigh than what could be considered safe.

Especially with the no underwear thing.

She seemed surprisingly blase about the whole lack of underwear to the dismay of the other girls. They only recently convinced her to wear a bra more often. Apparently she often didn't wear it in the school uniform either, as she could hide the fact she wasn't wearing one, though she did wear panties, apparently.

Not like I was allowed to check.

She leapt over the railing, a hand on the hem of her robe bottoms, but the top portion which only slung over her one shoulder threatened to spill flesh, but luckily for my amazoness partner, did not.

Pyrrah excitedly snatched the packet detailing the information on the Gladiatorial Event before sitting next to Blake excitedly, discussing all the different Grimm breeds that Beacon might have captured for the event.

Blake just nodded along, not caring about whether she was seeded or not. Pyrrah did deserve it after having won four Mystral Tournaments in a row, after all. Blake seemed happy just listening to her clanmate's excited chatter, though it was only small smiles and other subtle body language that most people wouldn't have been able to pick up on.

It's been getting easier to know how Blake's feeling. It was still hard getting a read on her from time to time, though, but I'm sure that's how it was with everyone else as well.

Ruby shuffled through before stopping at another packet.

"Ugh, Yang. There's a lot of requests for you to be a part of a kissing booth. It's not mandatory though, so you can ignore it if you want." The younger sible wrinkled her nose.

"Sounds like it could be fun, but there are a lot of creeps around Beacon. Not enough cute ones like Jaune." the older girl laughed, plucking the papers from her sibling's hands. "Gotta say, people do have good taste though."

She turned to me winking as she made a kissy face.

Ruby just shrugged at me rolling her eyes as she yanked the towel from her sister's hair, the messy golden locks spilling over her bathrobe. My eyes caught her lips as she smiled at me cheekily.

I'd have kept staring if her hood hadn't been pulled over her head.

Although not nearly as active or verbal as Yang, I've been pretty worried about Ruby and I was glad to find out that she wasn't mandatorily required to participate in any of the special events. I mean I've been staring at her lips all day when people aren't looking at me and I have this bad foreboding feeling that I would have to perform CPR again.

I do however find it a bit strange that nobody has asked me how exactly I saved Ruby from staying dead. I suppose after seeing all the blood involved in getting rid of the magnetized clumps of hemoglobin they didn't care to question it too much. That was a lot of blood even for me.

"Oh. Ozpin did say something about me being involved in some event. Anything on me? Something about a prize that I think he suggested that I try to win or the like. I was too mad to really hear him clearly."

I suppose now that I'm outside of his presence I _could_ have bared to hear him out a bit more than I did. Not about home and his asshattery, but about the Fair, as that was actually pretty important.

You can win Lien and Credits in the fair too, though events and games can have a required Lien and Credit input for participation.

Beacon gets a _lot_ of Lien through missions, advertisements, and allowing certain companies to set up stores on campus, but they're not going to just _give_ that to students so easily.

Who would be stupid enough to do that?

Ozpin's also a greedy bastard.

"I'm looking." Ren assured me as he shuffled through the pages. "There's papers here for pretty much every event in the Fair. It might take a bit. I'm just glancing over participants, but I haven't found your name written down anywhere quite yet."

I picked up a handful of leaflets and papers as well, picking out all the different food stalls that I wanted to visit. The different clubs all over Beacon always had some sort of service related event at the Fair, apparently. Seeing all the different assorted dishes were exciting and made my mouth water a bit in anticipation. I always did have a bit of a taste for unique and exotic foods, and there were actually five different culinary clubs ranging from foreign kingdom cooking styles and a cafe society based around the idea of maids and butlers.

Apparently the latter club was pretty popular, judging from how much more fancy and large the advertisement for the club's Hunter's Fair exhibit was.

Either that or they had way too much Lien for their own good.

"Uh Jaune? You're not participating for a prize. You _are _a prize."

We all stared at Ren.

"You're joking, right?" I laughed. "I'm sure that's not the case. Read it again."

Ren glanced over it, muttering under his breath.

"No, I'm reading it right. I'm positive. Just look here."

Grabbing the flyer out of his hands I stared at the page.

"...Really? Well I suppose I can't really complain though. Compared to the abnormal breach of privacy that Ozpin had with the pictures, this is surprisingly tame. I'm giving aura lessons and training. It even has my credentials and ties to the Valentinian Order on it. I could think of worse things to be a prize for. Unless I'm fighting Sov. I learn a lot, but he hurts. A lot."

"Wait, is that even allowed? I thought you'd have to give out permission for stuff like that." Ruby questioned as she looked at me, her hood had long been righted.

Yang yanked the towel back from her sister during her momentary distraction, sticking a tongue out at her younger before she playfully whipped it, grazing her sister's pyjama pants, getting a cute yelp.

"I assume it counts as my required special event." I mused as I read the details. "Participate in the Tri-Focal Roulette! Work with the three fundamentals of a Hunter to win this event. Compete against fellow Beacon students in contests of aura, Dust manipulation, and standard combat. The grand prize is a series of lessons from freshman Jaune D'Arc, leader of Team JNPR, member of Clan Ala Alba, Upper Echelon member of the Valentinian Order of the Seven Saints, certified aura medic and instructor. Capitalize on this once in a lifetime opportunity! Way to lay it on thick, Ozpin. I'm going to have more people knocking on our doors now. Great."

"I'm sure that it won't be nearly as bad as it normally is." Ren assured me.

I gave him a flat look.

"That's because there's already at least five people that come by every week just asking for sparring sessions from us. The first week had about five people per _day_."

"At least it wasn't like the third day of classes when the instructors used you, Pyrrah, and that quiet Umbrian guy to unlock the aura of all the kids that had gotten through with Dust and brute force. Did you _see_ how pissed Winchester looked?" Blake gave a small smirk as she turned to us.

"It was hilarious, but then he took it out on that one dog Faunus. Poor guy broke four ribs. Twice." I grimaced. "At least when we did it for Weiss all that happened was that she looked like she one of those really sour grapes that Ren likes so much. You know like on the second tuesday of school?"

All laughter was quickly cut short by an irritated voice behind me.

"I looked like what, Jaune?"

I flinched as I turned, seeing Weiss tapping her foot expectantly, her delicate features focused into a glare.

"Uhhhhh…."

"I'm waiting." her pale blue eyes glinted dangerously.

She was holding a bag of groceries in both hands and had a white leather purse hanging off her shoulders. Obviously she had drawn the bad lot to go shopping for supplies, this being her second time.

Weiss really hated having to do heavy lifting when she didn't have to and shopping for groceries seem to irk her more than the rest of us. At least she wasn't going _hunting_, right? Heck when I showed her my hunting musk she gagged and tried to burn it all.

I learned that my homemade musk is _very_ flammable. Especially after it dries.

"In my defence you look cute when you scrunch up your nose."

Yeah, I need to make one that is fire_proof_. That would be really helpful if I run into a fire breathing Grimm.

On that note I think I could use a little fireproofing right now.

"Don't think flattery will get you out of everything, Jaune."

"Well, maybe not out of trouble, but you're the one that told me that flattery will get you most _anywhere_, right?"

"Ah, you're learning. That's cute." She smirked, "Then you won't mind being my escort for the Hunter's Ball, I assume? You know I can't and won't go without a date."

I blinked.

That wasn't what I was expecting flattery to get me to.

"I'll take your speechlessness as a 'yes' then. Those who strike first win, ladies. See? It's things like this that happens when you make me go shopping for _groceries_. I can be rather vindictive, though that worked very well for me this time."

She turned, sauntering off and heading upstairs while Ruby, Yang, and Pyrrah complained very verbally. Blake looked very irritated.

Nora wanted her pudding back again.

End

AN2: Sorry this is taking so long - back in school and all, so WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Review!


	14. It's A Motherfucking Bulldozer!

AN: Peopleeeeeee please learn what OOC is lols - it's making a canon character more of an OC than it is supposed to be. Ergo an alternate version of a canon character. I know Jaune seems OC, that's the premise for the story lols XD

And yeah, I just made Jaune's badass potential realized is all. Everybody gets a moment with Jaune btw until I decide either f-it I'll make a harem, or decide on a pairing or multiple pairings. But NoRen. Seriously. XD

Though it seems Yang's gotten more time with Jaune than the others on hindsight. Pyrrah needs more airtime. She really does. She is awesome. I'm just glad Jaune tossed that sap on Cardin, I just

And I've recently gotten my hands on Dead Space 3, Payday 2, and GTA V so… DISTRACTIONSSSSSSS

And yeah… the ep of RWBY Jaunedice pt 2?... WHY JAUNE WHY?! You little bitch! Accept the helping hand instead of being the angsty teenager sonuvabitch that you are all of a sudden! That's not even your character! Though it was interesting to see, but then WHY THE FUCK IS CARDIN PROWLING ON THEM?! Fuck!

It would have been alright if Cardin wasn't there. It's official. I'm gonna end bashing on that mofo. You just watch. I'm just glad that Forever Fall went well.

And I seem to have made 'mecha-shifting' an actual word in the RWBY Fanfic vocabulair. I'm seeing it used a fair bit after my story lifted off bweh he he, or I'm just being narcessistic and you should leave me to my delusions.

Begin

"Jaune! Nora! Come on, we've spent enough Lien and time on the food stalls!"

"But itsh shwo gwood!"

"Nora, don't talk with your mouthful." Ren sighed, dragging his childhood friend by the back of her collar.

"Wait, wait, I want to get another one of those amazing crepes!"

"Jaune! You've had like five! That stuff isn't good for you if you have that many!"

I growled at Ruby who was wearing the china dress that she had gotten from our first C Rank turned A Rank mission with her signature cape and belt. The belt clashed a bit with the dress, but was still a nice personal touch. She had pulled her hood onto her head in an attempt to attract less attention, although I feel that it was only working because too many people were distracted by the fair to begin with.

The Hunter's Fair may have been a monthly event, but it was also a time when many privileged citizens of Vale as well as future hopefuls could scope out Beacon, as every few fairs one of the lesser combat schools would be allowed to visit and inspect the campus for themselves during the fair. For the citizens it was both an important time of business and making connections, especially for the many restaurants that catered and the various food stands and food trucks that popped up around campus.

I was thoroughly enjoying it all.

"Just one more banana, strawberry, and chocolate sauce crepe! Just one! They're so good!"

"It was embarrassing enough having to stand next to you and Nora the first five times, I am not standing there a sixth. Did you really have to ask for a double topping of sprinkles each time? You're eighteen!"

I huffed indignantly.

"Sprinkles are delicious!"

You can bet your damn, eye-catchingly, distracting lips they are, Ruby!

"Mmeyaah!" Nora cheered stuffing a chocolate chip muffin inside her mouth happily.

"For a guy that talks about wanting to be allowed to go hunt for game in the surrounding forests, you really like effeminate, sugary foods." Ruby chuckled, shaking her head.

"I'm pretty sure there's irony somewhere hearing that from a girl that had a triple stack cheeseburger."

That wad of meat was scary.

Ruby polished it off in about forty seconds.

THAT'S LESS THAN A MINUTE!

"That burger was delicious." she pouted. "The juciest patties, the sharpest cheddar and smooth pepperjack with lettuce, extra onion, and tomato. It was godly."

"Looking at that burger raised my cholesterol levels."

"Smelling your crepes gave me cavities."

We both stared at each other at a stand-off before bursting into laughter.

"Touche, Ruby, touche. But seriously, for someone that loves cookies so much, you're not really much for other sweets."

"No, I am. I'm just not down for five epically sugary crepes in a row." Ruby rolled her eyes before grabbing my hand and pulling me along so that we could match pace with Ren and Nora.

The Eastern teen had bought some tea at an Eastern tea stand for both him and Nora to drink and he was wiping her face off with a handkerchief. It was a strange cold drink with ice and small spheres of clear rice cakes that were dubbed 'pearls' because of their appearance, I suppose. Ruby and I got some for ourselves as well and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

The four of us bought a bunch of skewers of small fried chunks of chicken and shared it as we looked around for our friends as well as interesting events.

This Fair had students from Signal attending and Ruby had dragged me off looking for her friends and we had met Ren and Nora in the crowd by a shooting gallery.

Ruby nudged me in the ribs as Nora ate chicken off Ren's skewer as the lotus boy hand-fed her the tasty fried treats. They really should just start dating. Everybody assumes that they are already anyways.

"We're meeting up with your friends and then heading to the Colosseum to see Pyrrah and Blake fight, right? Where are we meeting them?" Ren politely asked, as usual. The green gunman was always cordial and polite. "Nora, don't suck on the skewers because you ate all the chicken."

Nora made a muffled sound as she ignored Ren, skipping forward while waving her arms to the ambient sounds.

"Nora! You almost pierced your cheeks last year when you did this. Just listen to me."

"Awwwwww…"

Ruby and I both snickered as Ren tiredly chased after Nora. Poor guy. Nora might be one of the coolest girls in the world, but she's such a big handful. Psychologically, of course, though I've heard the words "big handfuls" be used to describe her as well, though that tended to whispered between guys and about a lot of different girls.

Still, Ren always does look the most relaxed when he's looking after Nora, though with a personality like her's I assume that he's definitely gotten used to it.

"So we're supposed to meet your old school friends in the East Plaza? Geez. Maybe we should have picked someplace with less stalls. This place is way too packed to find people. It's by all the Clan Halls and dorms, so it's not surprising that it's so packed. These guys are all trying to catch us out of our beds with food."

"By the looks of it they're doing a really good job though." Ruby laughed, poking my stomach, "I think you're getting flabby already."

"Pft, whatever."

I yanked Ruby's hood over her head before dodging some angry but half-hearted swipes in my general direction.

"Ruby! Over here! She's over there guys!"

To our left was a group of three young teens by a fountain. One of them was getting out, soaked to the bone before he howled like a madman pulling another one into the water. The latter sputtered horrendously before kneeing the former in the gut and sitting up on the cool fountain water, black hair plastering his face.

"Goddamn it Forrest! The hell was that for you Grimm-sucker?"

"Now it's juuuuuust like the day you and Ruby met now isn't it?" The now identified Forrest grinned, caramel brown skin glinted like metal as a green rasta cap clung to his head, hiding the majority of his short curls.

Forrest ducked as his pearly whites shined like fine ivory.

"Ha ha! Hey Franklin! Hows the water?"

Franklin's dark skin flushed a shadowy red as he turned to scratch at the stubbly facial hair on his jaw.

"Hey man, this is all nostalgic and stuff, but this ain't funny."

Ruby and I had approached the group and I held my hands out for Franklin and Forrest before helping the two up.

"Let me give you a hand there." I chuckled. "I'm Jaune."

"Franklin." Franklin replied cooly, trying to stand tall, although the effect was diminished by his damp clothing.

"I'm Forrest! I like weapon maintenance." I shook his hand. "I helped Ruby with her designs for Crescent Rose."

"Really? Nice! I might have to bounce back some ideas with you later. Ruby packs some serious hardware."

"Uhm, I'm Amelia." A slim and small girl with a short dirty blonde bob held out her hand, wearing red plate armor over a darker, long-sleeved, maroon dress that cut off just above her knees.

"Jaune. It's a pleasure."

"Amelia!" Ruby squealed as she glomped her friend, the two giggling as they spun around dizzily. "It's so good to see you!"

"Ruby! Hey, I'm getting dizzy!" The girl protested weakly as she laughed.

Ruby just gave her a sly grin.

"Mmm, sorry I was just turning to see if Ross and Franz were going to stumble across you again. They should know better 'cuz you're mine." my clanmate giggled as she rubbed her cheek against her friend's.

Amelia blushed profusely as she sputtered out something about 'just friends' as Forrest and Franklin shook their heads.

"Hey Ruby, stop picking on your friend there." I chuckled as I picked her up by the nape of her hood. "Weren't you the one that wanted to play tour guide?"

She childishly stuck her tongue out at me, blowing a small raspberry.

I rolled my eyes before putting her back down.

"Well as you can see Ruby probably hasn't matured too much since you've all last seen her." I laughed, dodging a kick to my shins as her friends laughed along.

Ruby grumbled with a tint of pink on her face.

"So," I continued, "You're Ruby's friends, eh? How do you like the looks of Beacon?"

"Man, I'd like to go here, but this fancy, prep, uniform-type schools seem like they're out of my price range. My shriveled up aunt wouldn't pay for me to go someplace nice like this." Franklin grumbled as he wrung out his baggy blue shirt the best he could.

"You know you can get a scholarship to come here. After a while you can take on missions from Beacon to help or outright pay for your tuition as well, or pick up some pocket money. I think pretty much everybody in our Clan is on scholarship entry and so our missions just fund the treasury."

"Really? Man, that would help." Franklin wistfully admitted. "Sounds like a dream come true to me. I'm sick of being broker than hell."

"And since Weiss isn't here to nag at us, let's pinch some of the Clan funds so we can all go around and have a little fun!" Ruby cheekily grinned, "Leader privileges! Whoo!"

"Isn't that abuse of power?"

"Don't be a stick in the mud, Jaune! Come on guys! Our treat today!"

I rolled my eyes as Ruby and her Signal friends cheered.

Ruby better not be throwing me under the bus to Weiss if she comes to nag us to death.

"Well, I suppose that we can head to see Pyrrah and Blake's Grimm Gladiatorial Events. Apparently it's a series of battles between a Grimm then a contestant until only one contestant is left, so either you really should take down your opponents quickly or you'd have to be one hell of a stamina powerhouse." I said as Ruby guided us with the map.

I'm still terrible with directions, and though I know this campus now, I'm pretty sure that in a crowd like this I'd get lost very easily. The whole place looks completely different as pillars are decked with streamers and flyers, stalls of all sorts litter the sides of every street, some alleyways are blocked off as they are doubled in use for performer's changing rooms and personal travel of said performers and so on.

I can't believe that this happens every month, but I suppose that it comes down to the fact that the Beacon Hunter's Fair is as vital to the economy of Vale as Dust is for fending off Grimm. Lien becomes very well circulated as a result of it.

I quickly purchased a few skewers of spicy, fried rice cakes in a cup and I shared them with the group.

Ruby turned her nose at it initially, as she wasn't really much for spicy foods, but a few bites and she happily sated herself with one of the less saucy cakes before chewing on the lightly fried sticky goodness.

Apparently this 'Ross' person had introduced Amelia to these before and she giddily took multiple dips from the cup of spicy sauce for maximum taste alongside Forrest who Ruby jibbed could 'eat aluminum cans' when he felt like it before the rasta-capped teen blew a raspberry at her, causing her to flick sauce on his nose.

I've never seen anybody with a tongue long enough to block it.

Franklin tried, but it became apparent that it wasn't really his speed, and Forrest quickly pounced with all the grace of an Ursa before gobbling it up.

"Hey fool, you could just ask a brother."

"Don't get so stingy. You always let me have your soda cans."

"Fool, nobody else eats soda cans, man! Normal's overrated, but that shit ain't normal in any sense of the word."

"Baah. You're just being closed-minded Franky." Forrest scoffed, waving off his friend. "At least I'm not taking nibbles of your IFRS."

"IFRS?" I asked, letting the hungry Forrest have the remaining half of my rice cake skewer.

"Impulse Fanning Revolver Sword. I know that it's supposed to normally shoot, like, pistol rounds, but Frank here's strong enough to use 7.62mm rifle rounds for it and still hit stuff." Forrest poked Franklin's nose, getting a shove from his friend.

"Yo that's how old man Qrow taught me and Ruby how to shoot. Hip firing's all I know, but I'm good at it and others can't really expect where the bullets come from because I can have a lot more angles. That and leave Tanisha out of this. You get your teeth near her and I'll blast them off, you scruffy-ass Dust sniffer."

"Wow. I think that's the first time I heard a human name on a weapon since I've arrived at Beacon. And you're not even a student." I laughed as Franklin gave an annoyed 'shut up' in my direction.

"Yeah, I know I've told you before, Jaune, but I was complete garbage before uncle Qrow took me in. Well, he's more like a multiple 'great' uncle, but you get the idea. He still looks like he's in his early fifties though, but I hear that good aura capacity can do that to you, but I never really hold too much stock in what dad says beyond his actual advice." Ruby shrugged, taking a flyer from a nearby salesgirl as we approached the colosseum. "He uses three weapons, but he was infamous for being a scythe-wielder and he used to have this crazy intimidating nickname, but now he's just a 'dusty old Qrow.'"

"He's kind, but grouchy." Amelia piped up, agreeing. "He helped me figure out how to be a better lancer."

I scratched my chin appreciatively.

"Hmm. This uncle of yours sounds pretty cool, Ruby. Think I might be able to meet him sometimes? Pyrrah's done wonders for my sword form, but Qrow sounds like he'd give some really interesting perspectives."

"I guess. I'll send him a letter through the Dustnet sometime. Uncle Qrow can be really antisocial sometimes and really only helped me because I remind him of his old wife or something." Ruby paused, blinking as she scratched her head nervously, "Not in the creepy way, of course. He always feels really alone so even though he's kind of bitter sometimes, he really likes meeting and talking with people. Like a grizzled old teddy bear, he he."

Five tickets later…

"Jeez. This stuff really takes forever to process, doesn't it? The intro for the beginning had a lot of pizazz, but was pretty dry. I mean, who gives a thirty minute speech for a colosseum tournament? It's a good thing we had reserved seats. Good thing Pyrrah had a seeding for the tourney. It's always fun to see her fight." I chuckled.

"Blake's pretty good too, you know. Just know that Team RWBY isn't going to lose to Team JNPR so easily."

"Oh, is that a challenge I hear?"

"You know it! We've been training just as hard as JNPR since we've been attending Beacon. Just because Pyrrah was from Sanctum doesn't mean she'll beat Blake. She's a lot faster than Pyrrah."

Amelia coughed, choking on some kettle corn.

"Wait, Nikos as in Pyrrah Nikos the four time champion of the Mistral Tournament?! I'm a huge fan! Do you think that I could maybe meet her after the tournament? I mean, it's really ok if that's not possible, I know that you're all really busy and well, there's a lot of events for you to take part in and the like-"

"Woman, breathe." Franklin snorted through his nose, flicking a peanut at Amelia's forehead. "You can fangirl over her another time when you're not in front of her teammate. That's really embarrassing, yo."

The red-clad blonde flicked some corn at Franklin angrily, her face as red as her armor. The teen only dodged, letting the other boy snatch the sugary treats in midair with his mouth.

Seriously, that friend of yours eats a lot, Ruby. I don't think I'd be willing to allocate any more clan funds for his ridiculously oversized appetite… Is he eating the paper cup for his drink?... Why would anybody do that?!

All strangeness aside…

"Please welcome to the stage the entirety of Division A for the Grimm Gladiatorial Event! Twenty five students will combat the Grimm we have captured for the event as well as each other! Only three students will be allowed to pass on to the full Gladiatorial Event!" The announcer crowed in a black suit with tacky purple trim, a clear orange pair of W-shaped shades slapped across the brow of his nose. "After this will be Division B and their twenty five. The full six will be joined by two seeded students of Beacon Academy! One is the a member of Beacon's strongest team, Team KSTL of Clan KSTL. The charming, the powerful, the mystical, Lady Lunaaaaaaalescaaaaaaaaaa!"

An incredible cheer erupted from the crowd as Lunalesca of team KSTL stepped out into a spotlight on a small levitated platform by the announcer's box. She waved, her kimono sleeves fluttering prettily.

Amelia and Forrest swooned together.

"Hey, Jaune… she's the one that patched us all up after you on that last C Rank that went wrong, right?"

"...Yeah." I replied, the words barely audible over the ear-shattering crowd's cheer. "She is." I repeated more loudly this time.

Ruby nodded, staring steelily with her silver eyes.

"She took out a couple dozen of the thugs before I could even blink once. Hard to believe anybody can be that strong." Ruby trembled for a second before righting herself. "I knew before I even come to Beacon that she was strong… but I want to see how I compare to her. Too bad the Gladiatorial Events are one of the invite only events."

A real shame.

I'd have liked to see how I compared as well.

"And our second seed, the first year member of Team JNPR, the crimson haired amazon princess of the Nikos family, four time winner of the Mistral tournament, the lovely, the powerful, the swift, Pyrrah Nikooooooooooooooooos!"

There was an incredible roar, nearly as loud as Lunalesca's as a spotlight lit up on my teammate who stood at attention, hands crossed behind her back in a ready position. Head held high and shoulders straightened she appeared as a goddess of war.

"...Wow… Her eyes are so intense…."

Goodness Amelia, you're melting.

She gazed towards where we sat giving us a smile as I waved back howling happily.

Ah, for some reason Pyrrah's smile soothes me the most…

"Ow!" I winced as Ruby elbowed me in the ribs. "What the heck was that for."

"Nothing. You were just making a stupid looking face so I wanted to wake you up." the little caped crusader fingered her compacted Crescent Rose which she was cradling in her lap.

I rolled my eyes before taking a glance at the twenty five members of Division A, leaning over the railing just slightly as I did so and waving at the rest of the Clan who had seats placed on the same row on the opposite side of the colosseum.

Weiss nodded at me elegantly before going back to her nails. Yang blew me a kiss, making me chuckle as the white haired girl flicked her hair in annoyance, pulling her blonde teammate down into her seat. Ren was still reading his book, waiting for the event to begin, but to the trained eye, he was conscious of the fact that Nora was on the stadium floor stretching and waving Magnhild around as a Dustnade Launcher.

I laughed as it barrelled into one of the contestants, knocking them back a dozen feet or so.

Nora can give Sov a run for his money sometimes, I swear.

"Whooo! Go Nora!" Ruby cheered happily, throwing her hands up into the air. "Show them what Clan Ala Alba's all about!"

A resounding roar was heard as three Ursa Majors lumbered in with a resounding crash, barrelling through two or three students each, four students were automatically disqualified, their aura dropping too low or being unable to react with their aura quickly enough at all.

As students of Beacon that was just kind of a bit pitiful to see, but the crowd ate it up as safety glyphs launched the unconscious students to safety though I personally felt that it looked really sketchy. Then again the launching platforms for the Emerald Forest followed the same principle, just without the application of Dust. The platforms are actually Ozpin's own special design that he had made before running off to Dust knows where for scaring the crap out of me when I went foraging in the nearby woods.

Asshole.

Ursa Majors are akin to Alpha Beowolves. Like their upper tier canine counterparts, Ursa Majors are much larger and their bone armor protrusions stretch out like short spears from their warped skeletal systems. They become walking tanks whose only real exploitable weakness is the cartilage of their throats making beheading or cutting their throats open and bleeding them out the only real viable ways to kill them.

That and another popular method is to give a lot of continuous heavy blows to the head, as compared to the rest of its bone structure which is supported by the numerous external protrusions it becomes actually easier to crack through the denser bone.

Ergo their nickname.

"OHHHH! Right off the bat we have three Bulldozers!"

One of the Dozers gave a loud roar batting moderately at another student, causing her to be launched to safety by a glyph.

"Oh?! What's this?! Contestant Sixteen, Nora Valkyrie, is riding a Dozer!"

And so she was… like some twisted Grimm rodeo, Nora rode on her Ursa Major, giggling all the while firing Dustnades indiscriminately into both Grimm and student's alike and an octet of bright glyphs activated as students were launched to safety, knocking a Dozer into a group of students prematurely, pinning them down.

When she was approached from her left side by another Dozer, Magnhild mecha-shifted into the silver-pink monstrous warhammer it was and swung solidly into the large Ursa's jaw, a trigger imploded one of the Dustnades in it's chamber, shaping the explosion. The pink just flared like a meteorite with an ample extra application of aura, drilling through the Grimm's skull and launching back from where it was swung, the mixture between the motion and the incredible gripping power Nora's thighs apparently had twisted her mount's head almost a full 360 degrees, launching the orange haired girl who only 'wheeeeeee'-ed before landing on top of Cardin's teammate with the funky mohawk, Russell.

"Whoopsie! Sorry about that!" Nora giggled before jumping up and swung her hammer like a golf club, firing the member of team CRDL into the air, a glyph appearing to readjust his course to the large net where the injured and disqualified students were being gathered.

"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRREEEEEEEEE!"

I choked on a bottle of water.

"Oh god. I'm going to remember this scene forever. I think I'll buy the Dust Recording of this event just because of this scene." I struggled vainly against my laughter, but failed miserably as the moment when Ruby and my eyes met we began guffawing like buffoons.

Forrest and Franklin were holding on to each other trying not to keel over out of their seats with laughter as Amelia stared out to the my overly energetic teammate who was cartwheeling away from an enemy, with a weapon that had Nora been male, would have been blatantly overcompensating.

Seriously.

It fires huge amounts of explosive Dust, has a large head, and is about six feet long with a firm shaft. I don't think it even needs more explaining than that.

While Nora played cat and mouse with the Dozer, giving the tanky Grimm many lovetaps to the face with Magnhild, it was ample distraction for some of the other hopefuls to fight it off, though the moment that the Dozer was finally downed, most of the hopefuls had also fallen.

"Well that was a preliminary match for the ages, ladies and gentlemen! Wouldn't you agree?! Of course it is, I'm the one hosting it after all, the great Kamina! Who do you think I am?!" the announcer stuck his nose into the air, one foot on the ledge of his announcer's platform, crowing with mirth, "Congradulations to the three who passed the Division A preliminary knockout match! Contestant number 8 and leader of Team GiANT, Gregor Pietror! Contestant Sixteen! The one who rode that Dozer like nobody's business! Ha ha! Nora Valkyrie of Team JNPR! And lastly the leader of Team CRDL, number 20, Cardin Winchester!"

Cardin looks like a smug old bastard there he does.

I'm pretty sure that he pretty much just spent his time running from the Dozers most of the time too, the little rat. It probably only would have taken maybe two or three swipes to deplete his aura. His levels aren't too high.

"But seriously… those Dozers destroyed everything down there. Miss Valkyrie's lucky to not have been hit once! She's amazing!~" Amelia nearly swooned as she held her cold drink to her forehead, fanning herself.

I've witnessed it.

I've seen the exact moment in which a girl falls in love.

End

AN2: Sorry this took so long - I've been busy with midterms and life. Fuck college man.

BTW - anybody else loved the design for the bigger than life Ursa? I know I did. If anybody sees a kslcross on Payday 2 it's me. I will monopolize that fucking handlename and make it my bitch. I will.


	15. Entering! The Horny Gorilla King!

AN: Looks like I pissed off an anonymous reviewer -_-;;; lols - in my defense, you're not the only person that made that OC comment, I've had quite a few PMs about it too. I just put it up there for future readers that didn't know. I never write to offend unless its to piss off a friend, bwa ha ha XD

Unless I'm bashing on Twilight fandoms. Fuck you, ya stupid forest faeries. If you think a stalker climbing up a tree just to breathe heavily while trying to catch your scent at night while they stare through your window is romantic then all I don't know what to say than to go take a long walk off a short pier. I mean, that's all I'm saying.

Common sense. Learn it, damn fangirls… tch…

And Monty, it appears you and I think alike. Let's be friends. Let me on the RWBY crew lololol :P

We both had a fair idea though mine is a bit bigger minded for it. And time to pull cannon into my story again, finally. I'm behind on this story, I am.

Begin

"Hweh he he he he he…"

Drip.

Drip.

"Amelia, I love you like a sister, but can you please not lez out in front of us? We're with Ruby and her Clanmate for Dust's sake." Franklin groaned as the short haired blonde quickly wiped away at her mouth with a handkerchief she pulled out of her breastplate. "You drooling is just nasty."

"I do not 'lez' out. That's also very offensive." She snubbed as she flushed.

"I feel so bad for Ross and Franz." Forrest chuckled as he ate his paper plate now devoid of nachos. The melted cheese had cooled however, and the strange teen just gobbled it down with the dispoable platter.

"I know, right? Poor guys." Ruby nodded as the students of Division B took the stage, eyeing Blake nervously as Nora came and hugged the normally stoic girl and began talking her ear off.

After seeing Nora's insane fighting methods it wasn't that hard to assume that somebody she talked to with so much zeal was on the same level, though Nora was kind of like that with most everyone. Except when people snatch her sweets. That is scary.

"H-hey it's not like I'm actually inclined towards girls in that way. I'd prefer a guy!" Amelia puffed out her cheeks with teary eyes. "Beautiful things are beautiful, you know. I can't help noticing facts!"

"I get the feeling that the facts you're looking at are two womanly lumps called breasts."

There was a resounding smack and a small red handprint found itself settling down on Forrest's face.

Franklin and I laughed as the announcer got the crowd going again.

"This time let's take the preliminaries to a different speed! Now presenting the product of the joint collaboration of the Vale Techno-Dust Research society and the Beacon Engineering Department, funded by the Schnee Dust Corporation, we present to you the new AK-135B Android prototype!" The announcer roared as a dozen metal humanoids fell from the air, shining a gunmetal grey.

Right as they landed, internal leylines of Dust burst to life in a red glow, smaller secondary azure criss-crossing and overlapping them.

"Ooh. Making two different Dust bases work inside a single system? This is interesting." Forrest whistled in appreciation. "That's really hard to do in something which obviously has such a high mass to volume ratio. If they can mass produce those they'll really put all the the current AK-130 models in the junkyard. A bit of a shame, too, the 130s are a solid bunch."

"That sounds like it's amazing, but I don't really understand." Ruby stared wide eyed as one of the AK units turned its hand into a HFDV blade (High-Frequency Dust-Vibration), the signature red of the fire-attuned Burn Dust glowing with a techno-vein underscoring of blue.

Likely either Fluidity or some lesser Fortitude based Frost Dust. The red of the Burn Dust makes it hard to really pinpoint what, though I suppose that is what really makes combating it the challenge.

The AK units proved to be extremely powerful and more than capable of fending off against two to four attackers at once, completely outpacing the previous models in pure specs, though according to Forrest the movement patterns and mechanics seemed to have stayed largely the same. That and the AKs worked with each other in tangent, a new feature, apparently as teamwork was evident to an extreme degree as two of the AK-135Bs fought back to back, rolling and ducking, occasionally boosting the power of a strike by supplementing force via striking the striking unit's elbows with controlled blows.

I saw Blake blur behind a AK unit that took out two other students of Beacon Academy before cutting deeply into the neck of the android which attempted to strike behind itself by extending out blades from its elbows. The limber black-clad Huntress spun leaning away as she drew Gambol Shroud from its blade-sheath, cutting into the other side of the neck, cutting the head off of the body in a flash of light as the Dust reacted to the cruel motion.

Realizing that Blake was an obvious threat even before the beginning of the match, the other contestants realized this as a definitive when she became the first one to take down one of the prototype AKs, on her own no less, rather than trying to use her to ride out the wave of androids, two students tried to rush her in a pincer movement.

Though their movements revealed they were talented and had much skill, it was a futile effort as Blake was faster than them. Ridiculously so. Ruby may have been the fastest in the Clan as her aura was naturally inclined to the semblance of speed, but Blake's natural speed made her a definite second place. Even Pyrrah accelerating her movement through her polarity semblance and couldn't match her in a straight speed match, though her outfit being so reinforced with magnetic alloys made her an incredible multi-use powerhouse.

Though Pyrrah had instincts and senses that made it incredibly hard to land a blow on her, especially if the opponent held metals of any sort on their person. Next to Blake who had the most unpredictable attacks and the highest natural speed, Pyrrah was probably best (if not better) at combat against other people.

A quick disarm by the folding of Gambol Shroud to cut the inner forearm of an axewielder and yanking the heavy weapon from his hand as well as firing her weapon to cut through the barrel another's shotgun-mace she sent two contestants into the air as the judges deemed them as 'losers' and the safety glyphs reacted.

Though the specs had changed and the number of abilities had increased as well as the ability to act as a team rather than individual combat units as AK units were previously built, the movement scheme hadn't been too greatly elaborated on and really the method of fighting was exactly the same as before. They really were only prototypes after all, huh?

Ozpin pitted me against about forty of these once after I tracked him down and really I only learned sword handling by instinct by fighting for my life as at this point I hadn't really worked on my aura semblance of 'Corporeal' yet. Once you figured out their fighting patterns and could outpace them they aren't too hard as long as they don't swarm you too badly.

It seems to be a bit of a different story when they are physically four times faster and at least eight times tougher to damage.

Even for a new prototype that's an incredible jump in technology you engineering people. Didn't you all just release the 130 models last year? Are these androids like bad movie sequels you Dust record in four months and spend the next seven editing in Dust Graphics before you release it in theaters?

Upgrading weapons and taking them in new directions here and there is one thing, but this is ridiculous. I can't help but to be jealous of that level of talent and funding. Oh Dust that funding. I can't even imagine…

Oh wait, this is funded by Weiss' family's company. I have a rough idea…

The Schnee mercantile dynasty is frightening indeed.

Maybe I should accept her offer to be her personal R&D head. At the very least the funding would be enough for me to try all the ideas that I have in my head. Oh, the funding...

But enough of that. I think my puzzling and mumbling is confusing Ruby and her friends. That and I should really be supporting Blake more as a Clan Leader and friend.

Am I a bad person for being so distracted so easily?

Oooh.

Blake kicked a guy so fast that you could see teeth fly into the air… Did a kid near the front row just catch one? Goodness her legs are as godly as always. For such slim limbs their power is almost incomparable to anybody else I know.

"Having that kind of strength with her slim body and flexibility should be a crime. As a girl I can't help but to be jealous, but at the same time that was really awesome!" Ruby grinned, though jealousy was evident in her eyes.

Ruby really finds it hard to accept that without her aura's semblance she loses to Blake all the time in footraces.

"Why are they all trying to dog-pile her?" Franklin asked? "Those idiots are having a hard enough time with the new droids, right? You'd think they'd use her by luring them into her."

"By the looks of it the guys down there are decent individual fighters, but when it comes to fighting enemies that outmatch their natural abilities they lose a bit of confidence. The fact that they're on edge from having competitors fighting alongside them is probably a huge drain on their focus and it's very likely that they're being worn down by a large amount of mental fatigue.

To be honest, I doubt that they're able to concentrate at all.

Blake sidestepped a overhand knife strike and blurred towards another AK that switched to twin mini gatlings rather than its blade-hands. The android fired but with both blades of Gambol Shroud in hand Blake swung her weapon with minimal effort, black-grey blurs deflecting Dust rounds in small white spark flashes.

Still her normal swings were not enough to take down the incredibly tough AK-135Bs and a backwards flick of Gambol Shroud in its pistol-scythe form was needed to finish a beheading as well as an arm that had only been attached by that point by a small shred of scrap metal that was once a shoulder.

"Geez, they're not Dozers, but those new prototypes are pretty tough. Blakes gotten rid of two on her own now, but for all the others only one of the AKs are scrapped. This might not even have anybody advance but Blake. I mean, there's no point in letting students who can't match the combat levels of the other students already qualified." I mused, somewhat disappointed by the fact that other students weren't on par with Blake.

It'd be nice if more people would be at our level so we could stand out less.

Especially without us getting weaker.

"Yeah." Ruby agreed, wincing as one student landed a lucky blow on a AK only to be crushed into it by a tackle from another AK, launching into the air. "The sucky part is that they're not bad fighters, either. On a good day they could give us a run for our money, but these robots are super strong."

"Isn't that bad though? Like, what if companies start making private armies?"

I shook my head before responding to Forrest's question.

"These aren't like people. They have a range of use because they're connected to a hive mind system. Those systems are big and clunky and require a lot of power so they're used more often in specific locations of high energy like ley line focal points or on train tracks which are all built on top of aura ley lines. That and unlike us they can only have so many programmed movesets. Dust crystals are still limited, especially in a human sized android. Their cores are actually about half the size of their torsos as well so that more armor can be used. I'm surprised that they build synergy off each other at all."

There was a loud cheer, stopping my monologue as a loud horn went off. Blake was the last student left with two of the AKs and the Dust powered androids ceased fighting, stepping backwards as lesser machines swept up the robotic remains of the other four.

"Looks like the new androids were too intense for even Beacon students to handle! At least, all but the beautiful Blake Belladonna of Team RWBY! Please give her a round of applause! Seeing as how the others could not compare, the judges have decided that we are simply going to shrink the tournament size for six contestants! Come back in two hours and enjoy other aspects of the Hunter's Fair! You will see Blake Belladonna, Cardin Winchester, Gregor Pietror, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrah Nikos, and Lady Lunalesca! Come see the skill and the carnage as we pit these six against each other and some of the nastiest Grimm on Vytal!"

The announcer paused as a card was handed to him.

"Ah, it appears that the latter half of the event will be postponed. Please, do enjoy the fair. We will be back in two hours for the rest of the event. Enjoy the Hunter's Fair everyone!"

The blue haired announcer quickly walked off, pulling a short brown haired boy with him, obviously a younger sibling from the familiar way they conversed.

Though it was sudden, it was exciting and suspense building for the rest of the crowd, although many people obviously felt a bit let down. There had been a lot of action build up for it to suddenly end, though this was more of a feeling for the combat students rather than actual tourist spectators.

"Ruby! Ruby! I need to speak with you about an idea for a team outing of great importance." Weiss quickly walked over, her white, high-heeled combat boots clicking faintly on concrete as she caught up with us as we walked out of the colosseum.

Ruby had a very faint look of annoyance before turning to Weiss with a smile.

What was weirder was that Weiss was smiling. And looking happy.

Really happy.

That wasn't normal. At all. No offense.

"What's up Weiss?"

Ruby, you really can't hold back against your own curiosity, can you?

Then again neither can I, so I shouldn't really talk, but yeah….

"There's a second school coming in today for the fair. This time from one of the other kingdoms, Atlas. It's the Vacquoa Institution of Technology and they're Beacon equivalent of the Atlas kingdom. This is a big deal." the heiress tossed her sideways ponytail over her shoulder as she crossed her arms.

"VIT? That's a big name I haven't heard in a while."

Team RWBY gave me a look again.

"...What? I've technically lived outside of Vale, remember? Little village in the mountains? Technically don't even have a citizenship?"

"You still know waaaaaaay too many important people and places for a farmboy." Yang ribbed.

"Oi, I am not a farmer. I, my dear friend, am a gardener."

"Like that's any better." Forrest whispered to Franklin, who snickered in agreement, only for the two to be slapped in the back of the head by Ruby and Amelia.

"Jaune. I think it's more important that Atlas is located on the Eastern Continent. You'd have to have crossed an ocean, a good chunk of land, and the Vytal's biggest lake to get there." Blake patted herself with a slightly damp, Dust-cooled towel along with Pyrrah who had dressed down from her battle outfit to a v-neck and jean shorts.

Yang was hanging off her shoulder, explaining the change in clothing, if the big bag clanking with the sound of armor was any indication.

I blinked.

"You suffer from extreme motion sickness."

"On Dust vehicles, sure. You can cross the ocean via hippocampi, you know. I don't get motion sickness when riding animals or smaller motor transport, like Dustbikes. I flew the rest of the way after that with my own wings. I had business in Atlas while I was working with the Valentinian Order and I was on the VIT campus for a bit helping with a project in return for usage of their research facilities."

"...Hippocampi?... I'm not even going to try to be surprised anymore." Weiss shook her head with a sigh. "Regardless, as I'm sure you all… who are these people?"

Ah, so you finally notice other people, Weiss. Good to know you're growing up.

"Oh, these are my friends from Signal. Amelia, Franklin, Forrest, you all know my older sister Yang. And these two are Blake and Pyrrah, as you prolly' saw in the preliminary rounds, and this is Weiss. They're my teammates and, well, Pyrrah's my clanmate, but we're still friends."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Amelia stuck out her hand eagerly at Blake with a bright smile as the black bowed girl blinked, her amber eyes flitting towards me in confusion before shaking it. "You were amazing down there in the arena!"

"Oh. Thank you." Blake was as polite as always, though it was obvious that she still had trouble speaking to those outside of our usual group. She was always unnaturally slow to warm up to people.

"I'm Forrest Overwood, miss, it's, erm, I'm, ha ha, v-very nice to meet you!" the rasta-cap donning teen bowed rather robotically as he stuck out a hand, unable to look Weiss in the eye.

Weiss raised a brow before hesitantly holding a finger with her forefinger and thumb and giving it a light shake. After all, Forrest had devoured an incredible and nonsensical amount of food and, somehow, utensils and disposable plates, cups, and the like. Although Weiss obviously hadn't seen such, there was evidence all under his fingernails and over his hands.

"Pleasure. Anyways, I say we head to the docks. They're coming to land the Taranta-class Capitol Ship in the water soon and I want to be there to see them. After all, as representatives of Beacon, should we not meet and learn from our fellow hunters and huntresses in training?"

"Meaning she wants to spy on them to have an upper hand in the big tournament that comes later tomorrow." Yang grinned happily as an angry growl and a half-hearted swipe was her reward.

"You do realize that international meetings of any sort are rare and far in between, right? Other than trading and the Dustnet, there's really little to no contact between the four kingdoms. Please do take this somewhat seriously."

"Alright, alright. Let's head to the docks. It's only a fifteen minute walk anyways. The way there from the colosseum should be pretty open too. There isn't anything big between here and there but the private research and storage buildings, so businesses are off limits, but students can pass through. Come on, let's go."

Weiss walked off with hurried steps eager to do whatever it was exactly that she wanted to be it actually scope out the enemy or not. Regardless, we followed, seeing as curiosity had befallen us as well. Besides, there was a few smaller events around the docks for entertainment purposes and I did love me some seafood.

Vale wasn't a seafaring kingdom, really, but we had a lot of small lakes that are great for fishing or is used for fish hatcheries and farms. In this crazy, crazy world people still need to eat.

The walk was filled with light banter and being chased off by a professor who in a fit of paranoia thought we were spies sent to steal his research, but we quickly walked away before he could sick any of his guards on us. I don't envy the students that chose to work for that man for credits.

What we didn't expect to see was a small Dust shop just a block away with its windows busted out, just by the docks.

"Oh, the amount of planning and funding that went into setting up such an amazing festival month after month. I'd love to swap some thoughts with the coordinators, perhaps I could pull some of their organizers to be my personal party planners. Goodness knows I've seen more tasteful planning here than in some of the family parties I've been forced to attend."

"I've really never seen you smile so much before, Weiss. It's kind of scary."

The heiress brushed off her red-cloaked partner with a "Hush, you."

"Just don't make a fun thing boring." Yang teased as she looked around. "Where's Ren and Nora, anyways? Did they separate to have their private lovers time?"

Fun fact: Ren and Nora often fall asleep in the same bed. It's never planned, it just happens. That and they both sleep significantly better that way. It's cute.

Must be nice to have someone to lean on like that.

"Well they're not spying on the potential competition like Weiss, here." BLake gave one of her soft, mysterious smiles as she poked fun at her color opposite.

"You can't prove that!" Weiss huffed back snappishly.

"I wonder what happened there." Pyrrah furrowed her brow as she licked at a vanilla soft-serve ice cream cone. "It's rare to see any of the stores so close to campus be hit. I didn't think it occurred outside the business district and slums."

"Yeah. Maybe… hmmm…" Ruby pursed her lips. "Nobody caught that Torchwick guy… and he hasn't done anything after that huge hit on Radish Corp…"

We silently stared at the broken glass and yellow tape nervously.

"Well, maybe it wasn't Torchwick. I mean, he just recently robbed a huge shipment right? Maybe he's just a money grubber rather than an evil mastermind?" I offered.

"Well we can only hope." Weiss grumbled. "The Schnee Company's transport trains have been hit a lot lately and we believe that some of it might be linked with Torchwick, and not just the White Fang as usual."

Blake's bow moves even when there's no wind.

WHAT BLACK MAGIC IS THIS?!

"Stop that stowaway!" A loud cry exploded from behind us on one of the small trader Dustships that had arrived.

A blonde and white blur dashed across a wooden deck, doing little leaps over barrels and crates as the blur leapt off the docks, it became clear that he was a faunus of a simian sort, hanging upside down on a lightpost with his tail as he chuckled somewhat malevolently.

"You lousy stowaway!"

"Ha! If I was a lousy stowaway, you two-bit rent-a-cops would have caught me! I'm a great stowaway."

Ok, he's from Atlas alright. The men there have a habit of wearing clothing that exposes their body more than normal. He's wearing a short sleeve t-shirt that's been cut open down the middle. Not even that he didn't use the buttons.

There were no buttons.

But wait… I know this guy…

Of all the chimps...

"SUN WUKOOOOOOOOOONG!"

I leapt, aura wings opening up to give me a boost in speed as I superman punched the faunus in the face, the two of us falling in the water before a small scrap happened and we emerged from the water.

"Jaune, you dick!"

"Zidane better not be with you, Sun! I'll punch his lights out too!"

"Dude my bro didn't even do anything to… er… ok, sure he's guilty of, well, you know, but-"

"Auron's told me that he was coming here with her. You stowed away, huh? Man I didn't think you would go that far."

"Look man, Penny and I have a thing and you know it."

"I'll never approve of your relationship! You horny gorilla!"

"I'm a monkey-faunus!"

"Horny gorilla! Fetishist pervert! Cradle robbing scum!"

"Oh fuck you, daddy."

"...Now you're dead."

End

AN2: Well, I've been busy with life. Shit happened. A lot of shit. Personal shit that I wanna vent about but can't, so here's a climactic ending to my chappy. Enjoy and theorize what you will. Read and review!


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